The Good Fight
by Buffybot
Summary: AU fic. Sequel to Going Through the Motions. Harry and Ron are continuing their Auror training as the war against Voldemort rages on. Dark times lie ahead for the trio and things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: In case you missed it in the summary, this story is the sequel to my other fic Going Through the Motions, which means that with the release of HBP this fic is now AU. This story will not contain anything that happened in HBP in order to correspond with the events in Going Through the Motions. In order to understand what's going on in this fic it would be a good idea to read that story first._

Chapter One

"Damn it, Ron, that's not going to work!" Harry yelled at his friend.

"Harry, trust me, I know what I'm doing," Ron responded, without sparing him a glance.

"What you're doing is going to get yourself killed. You can't go out the main entrance. If you're seen – "

"Shut up, you're going to make me lose my concentration and then I _will _die," snapped an annoyed Ron.

Harry fell back against the couch with a frustrated sigh. If Ron wasn't going to take his advice, that was just fine – he could be the one to play the level all over again. It had already taken them three days to get this far and as the character Ron was controlling emerged from the building, getting shot at within seconds, he groaned and closed his eyes. When Ron's groans of disappointment didn't follow his own, he opened his eyes. The scoring for the level was displaying across the telley.

He looked at Ron in complete shock. "You beat it?"

"Of course I did," he answered back, smacking Harry hard in the arm. "You need to have a little faith, mate."

"You cheated," Harry stated, understanding finally dawning on him.

Ron looked insulted. "It's not my fault I've gotten better at this game then you."

Harry continued to stare suspiciously at him.

"All right fine, I had a little help," he admitted. "I got Hermione to take me to the muggle library and use one of those machines with a net to figure out a way to beat this."

"The Internet," Harry corrected, shaking his head and smiling. "I can't believe Hermione looked up cheat codes for you."

"She was just so excited I wanted to go she didn't ask why. When she found out she went on about wasting her Saturday afternoon on something that isn't even real."

"It's not real," a new voice sounded. "And it's going to make you both stupid with all the time you've been spending on it." Hermione looked at the open case on the floor and sighed. "Max Payne, again? Honestly, I think you two need to see some sort of therapist or something with the line of work you're in and then spending all your free time killing people for fun in a game."

"You're just upset 'cause we haven't asked you to join us," said Ron. "Harry and I figured if you were that horrible at chess there was no way we were letting you near this."

Hermione decided then she was not going to allow herself to be dragged into another argument with them about the importance of having a Sony PlayStation around the house. She had never really understood Harry's need to buy himself one of those muggle gaming consoles. It just seemed really important to him for some reason. Ron had been just as confused by it, until Harry had got him to try it out one day. He was completely fascinated with all the things that could be done by just pressing a few buttons and without the aid of any magic. Now, he was just as mad about it as Harry. Though how they managed to find time for it with all the hours they spent training and patrolling was beyond her.

"Don't you think we should get going, Ron? I think we've kept Remus waiting long enough."

"What? Oh, yeah, we should go back," he said, catching the pointed look she was sending him.

Harry burst out laughing and his friends regarded him strangely. "You two are pathetic," he said, still laughing. "I know you want me to come with you because you're having some sort of a party for me."

"We are not," Hermione lied horribly. "Remus just wants to give you your birthday present."

"Right," he said not believing her for a second. "And no one else is there waiting for us to arrive?"

"No," she said firmly. She knew big celebrations weren't the sort of thing Harry enjoyed, but this would be the first year he wouldn't have to spend his birthday with his horrible relatives. That was why she had readily agreed when Mrs. Weasley had suggested they throw him a party. The only problem was getting him to Lupin's house without arousing any suspicion as to their true intentions.

"Let's get going then," she said to them both. Judging by Harry's earlier reaction, he didn't seem too put out over the idea of a party, and even if he was opposed to it that was too bad. Harry deserved to have at least one memorable birthday.

Harry's fireplace had its own private floo system that was only connected to the fireplace in the Lupin living room. Moody, along with several other Order members had set it up themselves. As far as Moody was concerned it was impossible for anyone to tap into the network and use it to get to Harry's. As with Lupin's house, there were also wards set up around it to prevent anyone from apparating inside.

Hermione went first, making sure before she left that Ron would go next. When they both made it to Lupin's, they stood around waiting for Harry to show up.

She was starting to think he wasn't coming when a ball of green flame erupted in the fireplace before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. Harry stepped out, brushing the soot off his clothes. When he was done adjusting his glasses, he looked around to see practically everyone he knew standing in the room around him. Fred and George stood off to one side with Tonks, Lupin, and Bill while Ron and Hermione had moved back to stand with Ginny and Mrs. Weasley. Lupin was the first to approach Harry.

"Happy Birthday, Harry," he said, his face lit up with a smile as he gave the young man a quick hug.

Mrs. Weasley was next, though her hug seemed to last a lot longer. "Arthur wanted me to wish you a happy birthday for him," she was saying. "He had to go into work this morning. But it's nothing you need to worry about," she assured him.

The activity of Voldemort's followers had increased in the last few weeks, making Harry wonder if that was why Mr. Weasley had to go in to the Ministry on a Sunday. But the Ministry was such a disarray these days, thanks to the mess Fudge had left it in when he had been replaced, Arthur Weasley was spending day and night there trying to sort through it all.

"I made lunch, Harry. Do you want to eat first before you open your gifts?"

He nodded appreciatively. He had always been amazed at Mrs. Weasley's culinary skills, but hadn't learned to fully appreciate them until he had started living on his own. Most nights he was too exhausted from Auror training to do little more than make himself a sandwich or eat whatever happened to be in his fridge. He knew whatever Molly Weasley had made would be a hundred times better then what he had been living off of lately.

They tucked in to lunch outside where the sky was clear and the air warm. With a twinge of guilt Harry realized he hadn't made much effort to come by and see Lupin since he moved out. He had just been so busy, and usually Ron and Hermione would just stop by that there wasn't a reason for him to visit frequently. If he was honest with himself he was also making a point of not being around Ginny for too long. She had said happy birthday to him and given him a gift, but that had been the extent of their interactions that day so far. As he watched her from where she sat across from him, talking with Hermione, he realized their interactions had been few and far between since their encounter at the party the twins had thrown for Mr. Weasley back in June. He supposed it was probably better this way. She looked happy and she didn't need him around wrecking that.

When lunch was out of the way he started opening the last of his gifts. Fred and George gave him an authentic professional Quidditch league jersey. It was identical to the one he had seen in Quality Quidditch Supplies and had balked at the price tag. He tried refusing the gift but the twins would hear none of it. George said it was the least they could to for the financial founder of their business.

Lupin had got him a set of extremely rare first edition Defense Against the Dark Arts books, published in 1775. Even Tonks had gotten him something. It was a pouch that transfigured itself to match his belt, so he could put anything in it he might need while out on Auror patrol.

While Mrs. Weasley went inside to get dessert ready, Hermione and Ginny had started talking animatedly amongst themselves as they had for most of the meal.

"Care to let the rest of us in on the big secret?" He said to them.

"It's nothing really," Ginny said, even as she was saying it she couldn't keep a straight face and actually had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Hermione wasn't much better off.

Ron sighed in annoyance. "See what I have to put up with?" He said to Harry. "All the giggling and the whispering in secret – it's driving me mad. Sometimes I think I'm living with Lavender and Parvati."

Harry could actually hear Hermione stomping on Ron's foot it was so loud.

"Shit, Hermione, that hurt," he complained, reaching down to rub his sore foot.

"Language, Ron," Ginny scolded before Hermione could even open her mouth.

Harry was starting to see what Ron meant. He felt sorry for his friend, but if Ron could survive growing up in a house with eight other people, surely he could surely handle Hermione and Ginny together.

The girls were now looking at something passed them. Both he and Ron turned in their chairs to see who it was they were watching. Lupin and Tonks were standing on the back porch alone together, talking quietly.

"Are you going to tell us why you keep looking at them?" Said Ron in exasperation.

"Isn't it obvious?" Ginny said to her brother.

"No, it's not," Ron growled.

Harry felt inclined to agree with him.

Ginny just rolled her eyes, while Hermione said in a patient voice, "you wouldn't understand."

"What's not to understand?"

"Forget it, Ron," Hermione said to him.

"Maybe we should go for a walk," Ginny said to Harry, standing up. "Before they really get going."

Harry, who never enjoyed being caught in the middle of his friends arguments, walked away with Ginny. Ron and Hermione were so caught up in their bickering he didn't think they even noticed him and Ginny leave.

"It should be safe to go back in a few minutes," Ginny told him. "I don't even think they really fight anymore. I think it's all an act."

"An act for what?" He asked, before changing his mind and saying, "never mind, I don't want to know."

Ginny just smiled and they kept on walking until they made it to the side of the house away from the festivities.

"Do you mind telling me what that was all about back there?" He was referring to the secret conversation she and Hermione had been having while spying on Lupin and Tonks.

"Hermione and I think Remus and Tonks have certain feelings for one another," she filled Harry in.

"Tonks and Lupin?" Harry said in disbelief.

"Well she does come by a lot and it can't just be to check on us. Plus Remus acts different when she's around."

"Different, how?" He couldn't recall his old professor acting any different around Tonks then he did the rest of them.

She shrugged. "He acts kind of distant."

"It all makes sense now," Harry said feigning serious.

She swatted at his arm. "Just watch them the next time they're in a room together, okay?"

He still didn't believe what Ginny was telling him. Then again, Lupin had always been a very private person. He tended to keep his most personal feelings closely guarded.

"Do you want to head back now?" She asked him.

He figured they should. Mrs. Weasley would undoubtedly be back out soon with the cake, but suddenly the thought that he and Ginny were alone together, overrode his normal rational thinking. Instead of answering her, he said, "I never thanked you for the gift."

"Oh, that. It wasn't anything special," she said dismissively.

"It meant something to me," he said, his voice low as he closed the distance between them.

Ginny knew what was going to happen, but she did nothing to stop it. She knew what Harry wanted the moment something in his voice changed. But something was causing him to hesitate as his lips hovered just above hers. With her conscience screaming at her, she made the first move and covered his mouth with her own. That seemed to drag Harry out of his indecisive state. He kissed her back fiercely, one hand holding on to the side of the house, while the other gripped her waist. He didn't know what it was but he seemed to have no control when he was around her. He should have pushed her away, afraid that someone would catch them, but he didn't care about any of that. All that mattered was being as close to Ginny as he could get.

"We should head back," she murmured, arching her neck to give Harry better access.

"We should," he agreed, moving his head back up and capturing her lips in a fervent kiss.

When he found his hands running up the front of her shirt, he had to force himself to stop while he still had the resolve to do so. He tore his lips from hers and attempted to put a safe distance between them, but his feet were rooted to the spot. Ginny didn't seem to want to move either, making the situation all the more complicated.

When his breathing was finally under control he took a step back from her. "I'm sorry, Gin."

"Are you going to say that after every time you kiss me?" She teased, taking a step towards him.

He closed his eyes, willing himself to find that same control that had allowed him to stop in the first place. But if she kissed him again, he didn't think he would be able to stop this time. It just wasn't natural the uncontrollable lust he felt whenever he was around her.

Fortunately for him, Ginny didn't do anything. When he couldn't give her an answer, she started walking away from him heading in the direction of the backyard. He watched her go, running a shaky hand through his hair, wondering just what the hell happened to him every time he was in close proximity to Ginny Weasley.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

If there was one thing Ron was grateful for the morning after Harry's birthday, it was that they had patrol and not an actual training session with Mackenzie. He had gone with Harry to the pub to meet up with Neville, Seamus, and some other people from school – much to the dismay of his mother. She didn't think it was a very good idea for the boys to be out so late. Ron had to refrain from telling her that he went out all the time and Remus never seemed to mind as long as he knew where he and Harry would be. Really, what was the point of being an Auror in training if you had to stay locked in a house all the time? Now, he kind of wished he had, since it was nearly three when he had finally crawled into bed, meaning he only had the chance to catch a few hours of sleep before he had to get up again. He and Harry had both skipped their morning run to get in some extra sleep. It was only the third time they had done that since starting training. If Mackenzie had seen them walk in the way they were, she probably would have had them pulling double shifts for the week.

As it was, the Auror numbers had been slim to begin with, and after Moody had fired the lot involved in letting Harry be kidnapped because they were trying to bait the Dark Lord, their numbers were all but diminished. As per Moody's order, the trainees were split into pairs and designated a set of areas to patrol three days a week, while the other two were still spent in training. Ron knew his dad wasn't fond of the idea of sending out people who had only three months of training, but in times of war Moody had the final say over the Aurors. In just three more months, they would be done the training program and would have full Auror status anyways.

His mum had had a fit over him and Harry being out alone, looking for Death Eaters. She had yelled at Moody for an hour straight, telling him he couldn't do that. Moody had simply responded in a dead calm voice that this was war and this was what he and Harry had signed up for, so she better get used to it. That was almost a month ago and his mum was still fuming from the conversation.

He, Harry, and every other trainee had been given the graveyard shift to start. It was a sort of test Moody was putting them through. If they could alter their sleeping patterns with only a day's notice and make it through two weeks of it, they would be ready to patrol on their own during the day. Those two weeks had been murder for Ron. He couldn't keep track of the time or day, only knowing when he had to go to work. When the two weeks were up, he only had a weekend to get himself back to his old routine before heading back out on patrol on Monday morning.

In their six weeks doing this, they had done little more than confiscate presumed dark objects and then hand them over to the Department of Mysteries to be examined. There was the occasional report of a Death Eater sighting while they were on duty, but they never turned out to be true. Death Eater activity always seemed to happen on someone else's watch. Ron wasn't looking for a full-scale attack, but he needed to do something. He was crawling out of his skin with all the walking around, doing nothing.

"You need to stop doing that," said Harry from beside him.

"What?"

"That look on your face, like any one around you could be a Death Eater," Harry clarified for him. "It's scaring people off."

"Good," said Ron with a note of satisfaction. "That means fewer people for us to search through."

"Ron, not every person is a Death Eater."

Ron turned sharply to Harry. "Do we have to do this again? I might as well be out here with Hermione the way you keep nagging me."

Harry turned away with a scowl, but kept his mouth shut. He was not about to start a fight with Ron when he would have to spend the next eight hours with no one else for company.

Ron frowned in response, while he quickly scanned the area in front of him. Harry had really been getting on his case lately, and he wasn't sure how much more of it he could take before his fist ended up in his friend's jaw.

At first, it had been great when Moody had assigned him and Harry as partners. There was no one else he would trust with his life more than Harry. But Harry didn't seem to like how he would treat everyone as a suspect, even when Ron knew that was exactly how Moody acted and that was probably what had kept him alive to this day. Ron had finally found something he was really good at. Maybe Harry's problem was he didn't enjoy what they were doing enough. To him it was just a job and that was all.

He felt Harry lay a hand on his arm, and instead of being startled like he should have, immediately reached for the wand on his belt. He knew Harry would only do that if there was trouble.

He followed Harry's line of sight, and spoke in a hushed tone. "The girl?"

Harry nodded.

"How many?"

"There's only two of them, I think," he said, briefly closing his eyes. Since Moody and Lupin had agreed the ability to use his mind powers could very well save his life, they wanted Snape to teach him not only to control it but to use it as well. They had been worried in the beginning, opening his mind like that would leave him vulnerable to Volemort, but with the potential peril he faced almost every day they decided it was worth the risk. It was still exhausting if he used his powers for too long, but his abilities were likely the most valuable asset he and Ron had. He forced himself to use them now and then as a safety measure. He had a feeling that was why he had been partnered with Ron in the first place, because Moody didn't want anyone else learning of his abilities.

"Have they spotted us yet?" Ron asked as they quickened their pace. Their wands were still concealed to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

Harry nodded. "They know we're following." He reached out with his mind again. "They're taking her down the next street on their left," he said, rubbing his forehead wearily.

There wasn't time for Ron to ask if he was all right. They had to move quickly. "I'm going to go cut them off at the other end."

He took off without waiting for Harry to acknowledge him. He stealthily weaved his way through the people on the streets, only breaking into a dead run when he was down the alley next to the one Harry said they had been heading for. He had his wand out now, and his breathing was surprisingly calm considering the pace he had just run at and that he was about to have his first Death Eater confrontation since joining the Auror program. He counted off a few extra seconds in his head, wanting to give Harry time to get to the other end. Then he flung himself around the corner, his wand aimed and a spell he was going to throw already in mind. He saw Harry easily, standing midway into the alley, but there was only a handful of wizards walking through the street. They took in the sight of the drawn wands and Auror robes and scrambled out of the alley.

Ron met up with Harry halfway through the street, in front of a teahouse shop. His friend was running a furious hand through his hair.

"Damn it," Harry swore.

"Look, maybe you read them wrong," Ron said to him. "Or they knew they were being followed and changed their plans at the last second."

"No, I didn't get it wrong," Harry insisted. "They have to be here."

Ron blew out a frustrated breath. They had just had their first encounter with a Death Eater and they had let them get away. As horrible as he was feeling, he was sure it was nothing compared to what Harry felt. "We could search through every shop here – "

The glass windows in the teahouse blew out and the shards flew at Ron and Harry. The force of the explosion sent them sprawling to the pavement, while the shards of glass showered down around them. Fortunately, their dragon hide robes protected them for the most part. Ron craned his neck to see the teahouse engulfed in flames. He felt something wet dripping down the side of his head and face and then nothing…

* * *

Remus Lupin paced anxiously around the kitchen of his house. It wasn't helping to ease his nerves at all, but sitting down was not an option. Since he had heard on the wireless about the explosion in Diagon Alley, he had been in touch with every Order member he could get a hold of, trying to find some news about Ron and Harry. Molly was a mess. She had been torn between coming there and staying at Grimmauld Place in case Arthur tried to get a hold of her. In the end, she had decided to stay there. It was eight o'clock now – six hours after the attack, and all he had managed to get out of it from Arthur's brief appearances in his fireplace was that Harry and Ron were not dead. It wasn't as comforting a thought as it should have been because of the seriousness of the casualties being reported. 

When he heard the screen door swing open, he moved faster than he could have done even in werewolf form. Harry and Ron were standing there – and he used the word 'standing' loosely. They looked haggard and their robes were torn and covered in scorch marks. Harry's face was covered in tiny cuts and a bruise was forming above his right cheekbone. Ron looked much the same way except with a large gash above his right eyebrow.

"Hey, Remus," Harry said with a shaky smile.

"Are you two all right?" Even as he asked it, he knew they weren't. "What the hell happened out there?"

"Death Eaters grabbed this girl in Diagon Alley," Ron explained, sinking wearily into a kitchen chair.

"We thought we had them ambushed, but they ran into the teahouse shop and blew the place up," Harry took over for Ron.

"Bastards," Ron muttered under his breath.

"It was a mess, Remus," Harry said, leaning against the doorframe for support. "Magical Law Enforcement Squad came to put out the flames and collect the bodies. No one inside survived. They took the injured who were in the adjoining shops to St. Mungo's."

"I need to tell Molly you're safe in case she doesn't already know. And you better go see Hermione, she's been worried sick. She's in the study."

Lupin left to use the floo system, while the boys trudged down the hall, all the while with Ron trying to flatten his hair over the eye with the cut, but was met with little success.

They stumbled upon a rather unusual sight in the den. Hermione was sitting there, an open book in her lap, one hand on the page, while she stared off as if in some kind of a trance. Somehow, she seemed to know they were standing there and stopped what she was doing. She flew off the couch and flung herself into Ron's arms.

"I was so worried," she cried. "No one would tell me anything at the Ministry. I couldn't even get down to the Auror department because it was closed off." She let go of Ron and gripped Harry's hand tightly. She looked back at Ron, the relief vanishing from her face when she saw the nasty gash above his eye. "Ron, your eye. What happened? You should get that looked at."

He gently swatted her hand away. "Hermione it's fine. The Healer at the scene checked us both out. She said we're lucky to be alive but fine."

"But why didn't she heal it?"

"Because there were other people there that needed her help a lot more than Harry and me."

She let the matter drop, knowing it was enough that he and Harry were alive. "What was it this time?" When Ron and Harry just sort of glanced at each other, she said quietly, "another muggleborn?"

"That's what they think, but Moody's keeping the identity of the girl a secret until they know more," Harry said quickly.

"But it's also just as likely it was another one of those suicide attacks, where they were trying to take out as many people as possible," Ron added.

"What were you doing when we walked in?" Harry asked her, trying to get off the topic of the attack.

"Oh, that," she said, suddenly a lot less talkative. "Just a bit of reading."

"Don't you usually have to be looking at the pages for that to work?" Ron said.

"Well, yes," she said slowly. "I was trying out a charm altered to the point where it allows the individual to absorb what's on the pages without actually having to read them." She looked expectantly from Ron to Harry, already imaging their reproach. They didn't disappoint.

"You're trying out experimental spells on yourself again?" Ron said in a heated voice. "Don't you remember what happened last time?"

"It's different now," she protested. The first time she had tried something outside of work, it had knocked out the power in the house and the floo system. "In a controlled environment – "

"This is not a controlled environment," Ron cut her off. "This isn't some goddamn lab at work either. You shouldn't even be practicing this stuff without someone around to monitor you. I have a right mind to go down to your department and scare the shit out of that boss of yours."

"I know what I'm doing, Ron," she said defiantly. "I'm careful."

"It's not that we don't think your careful," Harry stepped in, his voice much calmer than Ron's. "It's just that a lot of these spells and charms are pretty intense from what you've told us. There's a reason why they get tested out in a secure setting before they're available for every day use."

Ron was glad at least one of them was calm enough to make the point he had been trying to get across all along. The things Hermione was trying were unstable and all it would take was one little mistake and they would have disastrous results on their hands. Of course, she didn't see it that way at all.

"I need to talk to Lupin about something," Harry said to them. "I'll see you two later."

When Harry had left, she said to Ron, "I don't want to fight about this."

"We don't have to," he said, his voice finally betraying the exhaustion he was feeling. "I'm going to shower." Without another word to her, he turned and walked out of the room.

* * *

"I thought you would have gone home by now," said Lupin, when Harry joined him in the kitchen where he was making tea. 

"Ron and I were talking with Hermione. Did you know she's trying out experimental charms outside of work again?"

"I should have figured that was what all the yelling was about," he answered. "She's a very determined young woman, Harry," he added, seeing the frown on his face. "I have to believe she would never intentionally put herself or the occupants of this house in danger. You and Ron are out there every day, putting your lives at risk. She needs to feel she's contributing."

Harry rubbed a weary hand over his forehead. He believed as Lupin did where Hermione was concerned, and he also understood her need to feel like she was contributing, but he wished she would go about it in other ways.

"Is that what you want to talk about – your concern for Hermione's well-being?" Lupin asked.

"Er, no, not really," he answered, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "I wanted to ask if you know of any books on telepathy or other mind powers."

Lupin looked genuinely surprised by his question. "Knowledge of those subjects are pretty rare, as there have only been two full-fledged telepaths since the late eighteen hundreds, and only a few others with much more limited abilities in the last century. Anything on empaths is just as rare. I do have some contacts I can look up. I'll see what I can find out for you."

Harry nodded his appreciation. Any information Lupin could provide him with would be better then what he knew right now, which was next to nothing. The next time he talked to Hermione he would ask her as well. There was no telling what she might be able to get her hands on at the Ministry library.

"Do you mind my asking why the sudden interest in your powers?"

"Maybe it might help me to understand them better," he said with a shrug.

"Do you want to tell me what you're looking for in particular?" Lupin said. "It might help me in finding what you need."

He was hoping to avoid telling Lupin the real reason, but it didn't look like he was going to be able to do that. "I think I might be having problems controlling my abilities."

Lupin's brow creased with concern. "How do you mean? I thought the lessons with Severus were going better now."

"They are, and it's not about control in general. I'm talking about when I'm around one particular person."

"Harry, you're going to have to tell me more than that if you want me to help." It looked like the young man had already said more than he wanted to, so he gently pushed him by saying, "you'll probably feel more comfortable telling me than Severus. I guarantee he'll ask the same questions."

Harry sighed, resigned. "When I'm with this certain person I feel like I lose all ability to think and reason, but that's only part of the problem. I think maybe by accident I might be projecting my own thoughts and feelings to this person subconsciously. At the same time I can feel exactly what she's feeling and it just makes everything worse."

"How long has this been going on?"

"I don't know, a few months maybe?"

Lupin frowned. "You should have said something before now, Harry."

"I thought I had it under control, but its getting worse whenever I'm around her." He felt his cheeks flush at the thought of what Ginny did to him.

"Who is this person?"

"Does it really matter, Remus?"

"As a matter of fact, yes it does. If you have some sort of attachment to this individual it might explain a lot. There have been some accounts of wizards with your abilities, experiencing feelings and emotions to the extreme with someone they have a connection to."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" He demanded.

"I didn't know you were involved with anyone. Even if I had known I probably wouldn't have said anything because I didn't want you to think you couldn't have a normal relationship. Now that I do know your experiencing this level of intensity, we need to look into it. Not only for your safety, but for the other person as well."

Harry looked panicked. "Is she in danger?"

"Probably not, but the mind is a very complicated and intricate thing. We need to be sure it won't have lasting effects. If it were anything else, I'd respect your privacy, Harry, but I'm afraid I have to know. It will stay between us but you need to tell me who it is."

"It's Ginny," he admitted after a while, as he averted Lupin's gaze. He didn't want to see the disappointment surely to be present in his eyes. The Weasley's were the closest thing he had to a real family, and he was throwing all that away for a couple of intense snog sessions with Ginny. He had no right to even be thinking the things he did about her. "It's not what you're thinking. We're not involved," he went on, feeling the need to explain himself. "We're – it's just complicated."

Lupin regarded him carefully. "I'm not judging you, Harry, but I think it's best to proceed with prudence in this matter. Until we figure out exactly what's going on, you should probably limit your direct contact with Ginny."

He gave a meek nod. It wouldn't be that hard to comply with Lupin's request, as he had planned on doing the same thing himself. He would just have to be extra cautious about coming around the house when she was home.

"I meant what I said Harry," Lupin's voice drew him from his reverie. "This will stay between us."

That did little to make Harry feel better about the situation he had gotten himself into. All he had to do was leave Ginny alone and none of this would have happened. But no, he had to drag her into his fucked up life, when she already had a perfectly stable relationship with Dean – something she deserved and he would never be able to give her. Things would probably go a lot better for him if he just stayed away from the opposite sex entirely.

* * *

Ron turned on the taps and hot water began spraying out of the showerhead. He was in the middle of pulling his shirt over his head, when a knock sounded at the door. He swore under his breath. Of course his sister would wait until he was just about to jump in the shower to decide she needed to use the loo. 

"Go away, Ginny. You can wait ten minutes," he shouted through the door, tossing his shirt onto his Auror robes that were lying in a heap on the floor.

"Ron, it's Hermione."

He pulled the door open, wondering what was so important she couldn't wait until he was out of the shower. "Look, Hermione I'm tired and sweaty and I don't want to fight, so can't this wait until later?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay after what happened today," she said earnestly.

"I told you, it's just a scratch – "

"No, not about that," she interrupted gently. "I wanted to see if you wanted to talk about what happened."

That threw him. He had misjudged her intentions completely. He thought she had come up looking to continue what they had started in the study, but what she really wanted was to see for herself that he was all right.

"I thought maybe you didn't want to say anything in front of Harry," she went on. "I know you probably feel like you have to keep this stuff hidden from me, but you don't. You can talk to me about anything, you know that, right?"

He pulled her into the bathroom with him and closed the door so they could have some privacy. "It's not that I don't want to, so don't take this the wrong way, but I can't. It's my job, Hermione. You shouldn't have to deal with this too."

"Ron, I deal with _this_ every day – whether I'm here or at work. Don't worry about me, I can handle it. Being in a relationship means you never have to go through anything alone."

"We'll talk later, okay?" he said to her, and she gave a faint nod in return. He didn't want to tell her any of it, but he also knew it would be next to impossible to keep from her everything he had seen since joining the Auror program. He just needed to wait until he wasn't feeling so drained, otherwise he might end up telling her everything.

"You are being careful, aren't you?" He asked, his tone much more serious now.

She actually had the nerve to roll her eyes at him. "Ron, of course I'm careful."

"Careful like Harry and I are careful, or careful like how you used to be?"

She narrowed her brown eyes at him. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

She was tapping her foot impatiently, waiting for his answer and he knew there was no way out of this without making her angry. "All I'm saying is that with everything that's going on you shouldn't be taking unnecessary risks."

"You are unbelievable, you know that?" She jabbed an angry finger at his chest. "You and Harry are the ones out until all hours of the morning, drinking and doing Merlin knows what else, and you still have the nerve to stand here and lecture me about being careful!"

"I'm sorry," he said, wringing his hands through his hair. "It's just been a really long day, and I didn't mean for that to come out sounding the way it did."

"I should go," she said, ignoring his apology.

She turned the handle, but Ron placed his hand on the door to keep it from opening. He had this little routine of theirs memorized. They would fight, then one of them would attempt to apologize, then fight some more before finally making up.

"You can't keep me in here," she said, her tone incensed.

"Oh, yes I can. That is until you say you're not mad at me anymore."

"You're insufferable!"

"It's what you love about me," he said seconds before leaning down and capturing her lips in a passionate kiss.

She tried to resist him at first, but her attempts were futile. When she realized where he was going with this she pushed him away.

"You're mad. Remus and Harry are right downstairs."

"That never seemed to bother you before," he said with a smug grin.

She opened her mouth in indignation, then shut it, blushing furiously.

"But you're right," he continued. "Especially if you're still mad at me we probably shouldn't do this. You can leave," he said gesturing towards the door. He was giving her a way out, but he also knew she would never take it and that's why he was giving her that infamous lopsided grin of his.

She kissed him hard on the mouth, pulling back a second later to say, "I'm not mad anymore."

"I already knew that," he said kissing her in return. A split second later a new idea formed in his head. He pulled her under the showerhead with him, never breaking contact with her. While she grazed her fingernails over his chest, he reached in front to undo the buttons on her blouse. It obviously wasn't fast enough because she pushed his hands away to do it herself, breaking the kiss long enough to toss it on the floor with his other clothes. That only served to turn him on further. He pushed her back against the slick tiles. He removed his lips from hers, so they could both have a second to catch their breath. She reached up to push the wet bangs out of his eyes, and he caught her hand in his own as she let it drop back down.

"I love you, you know that don't you?" He said, staring into her brown eyes. "I know we fight a lot, but I don't mean any of it," he said, running his thumb over the back over hand.

"I already knew that," she said smiling up at him, before lacing her fingers around the back of his neck and pulling him down for a deep kiss.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Life had changed drastically for Ron in the span of about four months. Not only was he an Auror in training, but finally he, Harry, and Hermione were allowed to sit in on Order meetings. There was no longer any point denying they were as much a part of this war as the adults, and if he and Harry were going to be risking their lives every day, they had a right to know what was going on. Naturally, there was no stopping Hermione once Moody had given him and Harry permission to join. His mother, who was still adjusting to the idea of him as an Auror, had some difficulties accepting the three of them as full-fledged Order members.

Needless to say the three of them had been excited to finally be allowed into the Order, but the novelty of it had worn off within the course of a few weeks. Order members were dying all the time and no matter how many Death Eaters they and the Ministry Aurors took out, more seemed to creep up and take their place.

The morning after his and Harry's involvement in the explosion in Diagon Alley, Moody had called a meeting at Phoenix Headquarters for all those that could attend. His father wasn't there, which was to purposely avoid suspicion at having the Minister of Magic show up late for work. For that same reason, Hermione had gone to work, but not before making him promise to tell her later everything she had missed. He and Harry weren't scheduled to patrol until later on that day to give them a few extra hours to recover from the previous day's events, and Moody and Tonks basically made their own hours so they were present as well. Lupin, Bill and his mother rounded out the group.

"They're still investigating yesterday's attack," Moody began in his normal gruff tone. "But it looks like we may never figure out what was hoped to be gained from it."

"It doesn't make sense that they would grab some girl in public and try to take off with her for no reason," Bill spoke up.

"We think they may have blown themselves up as a last resort," Tonks said. "When they saw Ron and Harry they realized that if they couldn't escape, they couldn't allow themselves to be captured either, and wanted to go out causing as much damage as they could."

"I'm no expert on how the mind of a Death Eater works," Lupin started. "But it seems as if there's been an array of mystifying attacks like this lately."

Moody nodded in agreement. "A lot of the attacks don't coincide with the way they behaved the last time You-Know-Who was in power. It's as if they're purposely trying to further confuse the Ministry with these unprecedented attacks. If we can't identify a single area or originating point, we have to keep the Aurors spread thin to cover all possible areas."

"Mackenzie's got another batch of trainees she's readying for field work," Tonks informed them. "They should be ready by the end of the month."

Mackenzie was now an Order member as well, having been recruited personally by Moody. She didn't attend regular meetings, but she passed on whatever intelligence she could.

"Isn't that rushing things a bit?" Mrs. Weasley said concerned.

"Molly, we've been through this," Moody growled, impatient. "They knew what they were getting themselves into when they started training. There's a war going on and right now we're at a severe disadvantage in terms of numbers. If we don't keep turning out new Aurors, it will only be a matter of time before we're overrun with Death Eaters. The latest census done placed the number of Death Eaters in the hundreds, and that was only an estimate. We have no idea how many of them are actually out there, which is why we need to continue taking down as many as possible."

Molly Weasley still didn't look happy with Moody's reasoning, but she let the argument drop for the time being.

There wasn't any new information to be shared after that, so Moody ended the meeting shortly thereafter, everyone going their own separate ways to start the day.

* * *

After all she had seen and done in the Department of Experimental Charms, it made Hermione wonder how she could have ever been disappointed not to return to Hogwarts. Yes, she loved all of her lessons and most of her professors, but what she was doing now was so much more meaningful. As it was, she was working on several spells still in the testing phase that would aid the Aurors out in the field once they had passed all the necessary tests and were deemed safe for human use. 

It was her first big project since starting there, and after weeks of being stuck in the theory phase, ensuring all the necessary elements were balanced, she had finally moved on to more practical development. That was what the small laboratory was used for at the end of a winding corridor in the department. It was off limits to all those that didn't have the magical pass code to gain entry. In a department of forty people, only about fifteen had access to it, including herself. She was in there now, trying out the spell she had modified for the third time that week, hoping now to finally see some positive results.

An Auror was most vulnerable when he or she lost their wand or was surrounded by too many enemies to possibly take out before being hit. There wasn't exactly a solution for this, as wandless magic could not be practiced by anyone who had not inherited it from birth. It wasn't the type of thing that could be taught. It was common for witches and wizards who had been using magic for years to develop the ability to perform simplistic charms without the aid of a wand, but that would be the extent of it. They would still be as defenseless as the next person if caught in an attack without their wand.

Based on the readings she had done and the report papers that had been given to her, there was the theory that those who could practice wandless magic could only do so because it was already written into their DNA. If that same pattern could be copied, then anyone could have ability to use it. It sounded simple enough, but she had read the accounts of what had happened to those who tried manipulating their DNA for that same purpose. The results had been disastrous and all subjects had died within a short time.

After weeks of reading, she came to the conclusion that the tests had failed because the candidates had been all wrong. They already had magical deformities that rendered their bodies incapable of making the transition.

With much trial and error Hermione had finally developed what she felt was a workable way to generate wandless magic. She hadn't mentioned to anymore that it might not be entirely safe for the user.

She had tried out simplified versions of the magic for reading or other basic tasks, but now would be the first test of it as a defensive tool. She was still somewhat hesitant because this would be the first time she tried it out on another human being. The director of the department, Jack Anderson, looked confident that this would work, which only made her more nervous. She was sure it wouldn't look good on her record if she permanently injured, or worse killed her boss, even if it was unintentionally. That was why he had insisted being the one she tried it out on, not wanting to endanger the life of anyone else unnecessarily.

Jack was standing with his wand out, waiting for her to disarm him. "You've done the revisions to the spell and I approved them myself. Trust me, I wouldn't be letting you do this if I didn't think it would work."

Resigned, she closed her eyes and willed herself to concentrate more intently then she ever had before, forever thankful for the anti-ricochet charms on the walls to prevent the spell from doing even more damage if the situation got out of control.

She felt energy course through her more powerful then any of the previous times she had tried it. She pictured Jack's wand clearly in her mind and reached out with her left hand, shouting, "_Expelliarmus!"_

She immediately opened her eyes, watching as a seemingly invisible force pulled the wand free from Jack's grasp and sent it flying halfway across the room. Jack shook his hand and grimaced.

"Are you all right?" She asked worriedly.

"Just stung a little. I'll live."

He held out his hand and she cringed inwardly at the red blistering welt forming on the palm of his hand.

"I'm sorry. I thought I had that fixed," she said, the frustration evident in her voice.

"If that's the most damaging side effect of the spell, I wouldn't worry about it," he told her. "We should be able to fix that. I'll get Davis to work on it. Once that's settled, we can begin testing out more complicated charms."

Hermione felt her spirits deflate. She still couldn't work out the last minor kink and now he was giving the project to someone else to handle. Someone with much more experience and a completed magical education. Now she was wishing that she had finished Hogwarts, that extra year of magical training could have helped her to solve this.

"There's something else I want you to begin working on. It's actually more important than this."

Hermione perked up. She didn't think there was anything more imperative then giving the Aurors who could handle it the advantage of wandless magic. It must have been highly classified if she had not heard about it before then.

Anderson moved towards the small, sealed container that he had brought in the room with him. He retrieved his fallen wand and pointed it at the container. It unsealed itself and he pulled the lid off. He reached in and removed a small circular shaped object on a chain. Hermione couldn't even begin to guess what it was made of. It looked to be almost glowing blue in colour. She thought maybe it might be metal, until he put it on the table and it looked too flimsy to be anything resembling that.

"What is it?" She asked curiously.

"It's something the Department of Mysteries has been working on for about five years now," Jack started to explain. "And until a short while ago, no one outside of there knew of its existence. In simplest terms it's a charmed object designed to increase the natural magic abilities of the person wearing it. We're still waiting for a lot of the paperwork to be de-classified, but what we've been able to determine so far is that when it's worn it somehow attaches to the user's body and begins mixing with the bloodstream. The magical properties it possesses is quite unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. The Unspeakables have been trying to duplicate its powers for years without success. The only two in existence were found in South America ten years ago."

"Has anyone tried to use it?" She said, inspecting it closely.

"Yes, but the user has never been able to keep it on for more than a few hours before they started showing ill effects – increased heart rate, fever, delirium, even heart attacks. It has to do with the chemical reaction the body has to the magical properties being pumped into it."

"Do we have any idea what these magical properties are?" She asked him.

"As I mentioned before, all the research is still being de-classified, but I don't think the Unspeakables were ever able to figure out what made it work, or how someone was able to create something like this. That's where we come in," he said with a grin. "It's been cleared of any contaminates and passed all the hazardous charms it underwent. It's safe to study in an open environment. Since the Department of Mysteries has about a hundred other projects on the go, we're taking this off their hands. I'm not expecting overnight progress but I think once we have all their research materials we may stand a better chance of discovering how it works."

Hermione was thoroughly fascinated by it, and she could see how it was a bigger priority then her previous project. Where not everyone was capable of learning wandless magic, if they could figure out how to duplicate the properties of the charm, anyone could wear it. She wanted to get started on it straight away, but her boss had other ideas.

"Listen, it's been a long morning. Why don't we grab something from the Atrium café and then come back up. This isn't something that's going to be solved in a day or two anyways."

She took notice of the time then and discovered it was already after one thirty. The mention of food made her realize she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. It couldn't hurt to take a break.

'You know, I'm really glad I listened to Arthur Weasley," said Jack, opening the lab door.

"What do you mean?"

"It's just that when he approached me, asking if I would just interview you for a position within the department, I thought he was mad. I mean you had no experience – hadn't even graduated from Hogwarts, and here he was wanting me to consider you as a candidate. It turns out he couldn't have been more right. I need to finish up a couple of things, but I'll meet you downstairs shortly," he finished and walked out the door.

Hermione stayed where she was, still digesting what he had said. She couldn't imagine Mr. Weasley going around the Ministry trying to get her a job without her consent. It didn't make any sense. A horrifying thought struck her then. What if Ron had gone to his dad to ask in her place? She quickly quelled the anger boiling inside her. No, Ron was a lot of things, but deceptive he was not. He would never go behind her back like that. All she had to do was ask him and he would tell her that he hadn't said a thing. Yes, all she had to do was confront Ron and then everything would be fine.

* * *

She purposely stayed late at work that night, knowing that Harry and Ron wouldn't be done their shift until seven. When it was almost nine and Ron still wasn't home, she used Remus's fireplace to floo to Harry's. 

She found both boys there in the living room. Harry was lying sprawled out on the couch and Ron sat half-passed out in a large armchair. Ron looked up when he saw her step out of the fireplace and gave her an inviting grin, despite how tired he looked. When she didn't return the look, the grin vanished off his face.

"What is it? Did something happen?" He asked, concerned.

Harry shut off the telly and looked at her as well.

She might as well just get this over with. She didn't know what she was so worried about in the first place. She knew Ron wasn't involved. She was only asking for her own piece of mind. "Did you ask your dad to get me a job at the Ministry?" There. Now all she had to do was wait for Ron to clear himself of any involvement.

Ron looked thrown by the question. "I don't understand – why are you asking me this?"

He was stalling – this wasn't good. But she still couldn't allow herself to jump to conclusions. "Did you go to your dad and ask him to help me find a job so I wouldn't join the Auror program?"

She saw the guilty expression plaster itself on his face before he even spoke. "Hermione, you have to understand I was trying to give you the same opportunity you would have had if your had finished Hogwarts."

She was numb with feelings of shock and betrayal that a full ten seconds passed before she spoke again. "You used your dad's position as Minister to coerce someone into giving me a job?"

"What? No!" Ron denied, jumping to his feet. "Hermione it wasn't like that."

"Were you in on this too?" She demanded, staring accusingly at Harry. Harry looked very much like he wanted to disappear, but she saw him just visibly nod his head.

"Hermione, please give me a chance to explain," Ron said, his voice pleading. He reached out for her hand but she moved out of his grasp. She didn't want to have any part of him touching her. She took some satisfaction in the hurt look on his face when she recoiled at his touch.

"Explain what? That you've been lying to me for months? I bet you had a good laugh, thinking you'd finally outsmarted me," she said, her voice shaking with anger.

"No, you've got it all wrong," Ron said, fervently shaking his head.

"How could I be so stupid? I actually believed how happy you were when I got that owl from the Ministry about the job, but it was all an act. You never wanted me in the Auror program and you did whatever you could to keep me from it. I shouldn't even be at my job! I only got it because you interfered!" She shouted at him. She had never been angrier in her life then she was at that moment. She had actually defended Ron in her head, thinking that he would never be capable of such deception.

"Maybe I should – ?" Harry started to say and stood up.

"No, you stay. I'm leaving." She turned quickly and stormed from the room. And if Ron actually had the nerve to come after her, she was going to let him have it.

"Hermione, come on, don't be like this," said Ron, chasing after her.

"You're right, I'm completely overreacting. Why should I be upset when really I should be thanking you for wanting to protect me? Is that what you were waiting for? You thought I would actually be grateful to you?" She seethed.

"Look, I did want to protect you, and maybe I didn't go about it the best of ways – "

"I didn't ask for your protection! I told you it was my life and I needed to make my own choices, but you weren't even listening!

"You want to be angry that I lied, that's fine. But all I wanted was for you to have every opportunity that you deserved. If you can't see that then it's your own damn fault!"

"Maybe I should just quit my job and become an Auror! It's not like I even deserve to be there.

"You wouldn't," said Ron, though his tone sounded like he thought she might actually be capable of doing just that.

"Watch me," she fumed, and headed for the front door.

"Don't throw this away, just because you're trying to get back at me."

"You are so full of yourself, Ron Weasley! Whatever choice I make I can assure you that it will have nothing to do with _you_!" She wretched open the front door and slammed it shut behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Harry slammed his locker shut, relishing in the knowledge that another day of training was behind him. It wasn't so much because he was dripping with sweat and fatigue, but because Mackenzie had spent the better part of the day chewing him out for his dueling skills. She said his moves were too predicable, which would probably lead to getting himself and possibly his partner killed. She had nothing bad to say about Ron, who was even more over-aggressive than usual, that Harry had a hard time keeping up with him. He could already feel the bruises forming on his body from Ron's unrelenting attacks.

"Do you want to go down to the pub?" Ron asked, throwing his boots in his locker opposite Harry's and putting on his trainers.

The pub seemed to be the only place Ron wanted to go these days. "Not really, I'm tired."

Ron snorted. "So Mackenzie really got to you today, eh? Who the hell cares if you're lacking in creativity? You've done a good enough job of keeping yourself alive up until now."

"That's not it," said Harry, throwing his duffle bag over his shoulder.

"So you're just upset that I might actually be better than you at something?"

Harry glared at him. "I know the only reason you said that is because Hermione hasn't spoken to you all week. In case you haven't noticed, she's pissed at me too – and we deserve it."

Ron said nothing. He had been lashing out at Harry for days, and it wasn't fair. Harry might have been right about them getting what they deserved but he wouldn't admit it, because that would mean admitting that Hermione had every right to keep on giving him the silent treatment. He worried she would make good on her earlier threat about quitting her job and joining the Auror program.

He finally convinced Harry to go down to the pub with him, if only because they were working the night shift tomorrow. Moody had them back on these insane schedules. But first he wanted to go home and have a real shower and put on a change of clothes. It wasn't as if he would have to worry about running into Hermione there. She had purposely rearranged her work schedule to avoid seeing him as much as possible. Some nights she didn't even come home before eight or nine. When they were around each other it was horrible. The few times she would look at him made his gut tighten with guilt and wish there was some way he could fix everything.

"Why don't you just meet me back at my place?" Harry was saying, as they apparated in front of Lupin's. It was a rule that after the two months of training passed, all Aurors had to have their apparating license, otherwise they couldn't go out into the field.

"I'll be five minutes," Ron said, not understanding why Harry was against coming in with him. It wasn't like Hermione would be there – it was only six o'clock.

Harry still didn't look happy about going in with him, but he dropped the issue.

Ron pulled open the front door and was greeted with the wonderful aroma of what had to be roast beef and yorkshire pudding. Maybe the pub would have to wait after all.

Remus was standing in the kitchen, stirring gravy on the stove.

"Remus, that smells amazing," Ron said, his mouth practically watering.

"I'm afraid I can't take credit for it," said Lupin smiling. "Your mother made it. She's out back with Ginny right now." He looked over at Harry and said, "are you staying for dinner?"

"Well, Ron and I were gonna head down to the pub," Harry said to him.

"The pub can wait. I'm starved," Ron said, sitting down at the table.

"This came for you in the post today," Remus said, handing Ron a sealed envelope with the official Ministry seal on it.

"What is it?" Ron asked, tearing it open.

"I expect it's an invitation to the ball the Ministry's holding in your father's honour, to officially inaugurate him as the new Minister of Magic."

Ron gave the invitation a quick glance, before tossing it on the table. "Sounds exciting, but there's no way in hell I'm going."

"Oh, yes you are," a shrill voice rang from the doorway. Mrs. Weasley glared openly at her son. Ginny was standing right beside her. "Your father wants his family to be there. Of course you're invited as well, Harry," she said, turning towards him. "I'm sure your invitation is waiting for you at home."

"It's just a ruddy ball with a bunch of ruddy politicians, who will kissing dad's arse all night looking to get themselves a bit of power," said Ron.

"I don't like your attitude, Ronald," said Mrs. Weasley her face reddening with anger. "I can't believe you use that kind of language in front of your sister and Hermione. Maybe I should ask them what they think of your behaviour."

"I don't think Hermione cares much about him at all these days," Ginny muttered, but both Ron and Harry heard her clearly.

Ron shot her a deadly stare, which she matched.

"I'm going to shower," he growled, pushing Ginny aside when he got to the doorway.

"You're going," his mother said to his retreating back. "This is important to your father and his family is going to be there to support him. I want you to try on your dress robes and make sure they still fit!" She shouted up the stairs. Grumbling about ungrateful children, she went to set the table.

"That was mean, Gin," Harry said, from where he stood inside the kitchen doorway with her. "He's having a rough enough time as it is without you rubbing it in his face."

"Good because he deserves it," she said, lowering her voice so her mother and Remus wouldn't hear them. "I've had to listen to Hermione cry over him more times in a week than all of last year, and if Ron's looking for someone to blame for this mess he can start with himself. I guess that's why you haven't been coming around much lately."

Though Harry knew Hermione was hacked off with him as well, that wasn't the only reason he was avoiding Lupin's. He had been trying to put as much distance between himself and Ginny, which was quickly evaporating as he stood there with her then.

"Tell Ron to come and get me before he goes out," he said to her.

"You're not staying?"

"No," he said and started walking away. "Say good bye to Remus and your mum for me."

He could see the confusion on her face at his abrupt departure, but he didn't offer any further explanations. He left through the front door, thinking that a good walk would clear his head.

"Moody sure knows how to pick fun places to patrol," said Ron sarcastically, for about the tenth time that night. Thankfully, their shift was finally winding down. As soon as the watch on his hand showed seven o'clock he would be out of there. He and Harry couldn't even go home and sleep right away, they would have to stop by the Auror office at the Ministry, check in and have a debriefing about the night's activities.

There had been no dark wizard activity. In fact, it was completely dead out, which made sense since they were in the middle of their third graveyard that shift. Ron had a feeling being there made Harry uneasy, as the last time he had been in a graveyard Cedric Diggory had been murdered.

Moody had them patrolling graveyards since they were prime spots for dark activity. There were loads of spells and dark magic that required the use of a dead body or certain parts of one that the Aurors did regular sweeps of all the graveyards in Britain.

"At least we only have to do this one night a week," said Harry, his voice sounding hollow.

"Look, why don't head back now? There's only twenty minutes left in our shift anyways," said Ron.

"A lot can happen in twenty minutes, Ron."

Ron cleared his throat, ignoring the impending awkwardness that would come with his next words. "I know it bothers you being out here. You know, after what happened in fourth year."

"Cedric died three years ago," said Harry, keeping his eyes straight ahead. "I'm passed it. Really, I'm fine." He didn't want to let on how much it bothered him being out there, though from the look of things it seemed fairly obvious to Ron. But if he couldn't handle being in a cemetery because he was haunted by a couple of horrific memories, then he had no business being an Auror. Three years seemed like such a long time ago, and yet the memory was as fresh in his mind as if Cedric had just been hit with the killing curse that night.

He and Ron did one final sweep through the area before apparating to the Ministry. It was still early enough that the Atrium wasn't filled people on their way to work. One of those early morning workers caught Ron's eye. She was just getting her wand back from being tested and weighed and was now on her way towards the lift.

Harry knew what Ron was thinking before he even opened his mouth.

"I'll meet you upstairs," Ron said to him and started walking off.

"Ron, we have to meet Mackenzie in five minutes," Harry called to him, hoping that would be enough to keep Ron from doing something he knew to be a bad idea.

But predictably, Ron ignored his friend's advice. He let the security wizard inspect his wand and then hurried to the nearest lift. The doors were just starting to close, but he stuck his hand out to open them again, startling the occupants inside. Hermione's eyes widened when she saw him there before quickly looking away. Ron stood at the front, with the two other wizards inside separating him from Hermione. The wizards got off on the sixth level, leaving an uncomfortably silent lift behind them.

"So are you going to the ball on Saturday?" He asked when it was just the two of them. He tried to make it sound like casual conversation instead of his first words to her in a week.

"I told your dad I would be there," she said, purposely keeping her eyes on the painfully slow pace at which the lift passed by each floor.

Ron slammed his hand down on the emergency stop button. "We haven't spoken in days and that's all you've got to say to me? I think I may actually prefer you yelling at me to the silence. At least then I know what you're thinking."

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you decided to become the over-possessive boyfriend who wanted to control my life," she snapped, and reached around him to start the lift up again.

Ron winced at her harsh words. He really had made a mess of things. He had thought that after some time apart she might have cooled down a bit, but obviously she hadn't.

"No witty comeback or insult? That's very uncharacteristic of you, Ron," she said, finally looking at him.

"I'm sorry," he said, shoving his hands in the pocket of his robes.

He thought he saw something in her expression soften, but she turned away before he could be sure.

"I can't do this with you right now," she said, fighting to keep her voice calm when she felt like she was breaking apart inside.

"I screwed up, I know that. If I could take back what I did I would, because I can't stand the way you look at me."

She couldn't tell if he was lying or not, but if he had been able to lie to her for months, what was to stop him from lying to her then? To tell her what she wanted to hear so she would forgive him and everything would go back to the way it was. No matter how badly she wanted that, she couldn't do it.

The lift opened to the floor that was her stop, and she walked out, but Ron's voice stopped her from going any further. "Hermione, I'll do anything to make things right between us. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it," he said, his voice desperate and pleading.

She forced herself to look at him. "There's nothing you can do to change the fact that I don't trust you, Ron."

She saw the hurt look on his face a second before the lift doors shut, leaving her alone in the corridor.

Harry turned at the sound of a door opening. Ron walked in, and judging by the set of his jaw and his rigid posture, his conversation with Hermione had not gone well at all.

"Weasley, thanks for finally deciding to join us," Mackenzie remarked, giving him a reproachful stare.

Ron stared back unflinchingly and Harry prayed Mackenzie wouldn't push the matter because he had a gut feeling Ron wouldn't hold back if she set him off.

"As I was saying before the interruption," said Mackenzie, turning back to the group of Auror trainees. "I want your weekly reports on my desk or Moody's first thing Friday morning. Anyone's that isn't there by the time I walk in will find themselves working the graveyard shift for the next two weeks."

They all knew how serious she was with that last statement. Their Auror instructor had already followed through on several of her threats.

"Some new information has come to light about the attacks on muggle and wizarding communities last year," she continued. "We still have no evidence to show if these were random attacks or not – but after a thorough investigation done by the Magical Law Enforcement Squad, it looks like we may be able to pin several new Death Eaters to the crime, as well as a few of the ones we had suspected all along."

She unrolled a long piece of parchment onto the table in front of them. It turned out to be a map that had flashing dots and several points were highlighted for emphasis. "This is a map of the village outside Leeds from where it was attacked last November. The flashing dots represent Death Eaters, and the glowing areas are those that spots that were hit the hardest. Since no one who survived actually saw the Death Eaters until it was too late, means they had to have been using some sort of a concealment charm. Some of the cocky bastards thought they would remove their masks, and now we can identify them." She pulled from a stack of pictures on her desk and spread them out over the map. "Obviously, we're not asking you to go out and hunt them down more than anyone else. This is just to give you a heads up if you come across them, since there are a lot of new names and faces here. I won't waste my breath telling you how dangerous they are. The ones that are already deceased have that word stamped across their picture.

Out of the five that Harry recognized, one of them was deceased – Lucius Malfoy. He turned around looking from Ron but he was gone.

When Ron burst in the Auror locker room, it didn't matter that there was only one other occupant in the room. If there had been twenty he still would have done the same thing. He sought out his target, grabbed him by the scruff of his training robes and slammed him back against the closest locker.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Weasel?" Malfoy shouted in his face.

"Were you involved in that attack last year in Leeds?" Ron shouted back, his hands trembling with rage as he held the Slytherin in place.

Comprehension shone in Malfoy's eyes. "Was that where the mudblood's parents were hiding?"

"Your father was there," Ron continued, "did you know about the attack?"

"You're just hoping I'll say yes, aren't you? So you can kill me where I stand, the same way Potter did to my father?"

"Your father was a murderous bastard who got what was coming to him. And you're about to meet that same fate if I find out you had anything to do with what happened to Hermione's parents."

"Ron, back off!"

Ron could hear Harry's voice from behind him but he didn't let up. He looked expectantly at Malfoy, waiting for his answer.

"I wasn't involved," Malfoy stated unflinchingly.

"Liar!" Ron spat.

"You really haven't gotten any brighter, Weasley, if you think my father would waste time telling me about the Dark Lord's plans. I was at Hogwarts, how was I supposed to know anything?"

"Ron, let him go," Harry said, more forcibly from directly behind him.

"There's other ways he could have gotten in touch with you," Ron insisted.

Malfoy laughed bitterly. "I doubt very much he would have bothered with me while I was away at school. He had too many other important things to take care of."

Ron's hands suddenly flew off of Malfoy's robes, and he found himself flung back against the other group of lockers. Malfoy looked as startled by what had happened as Ron did.

When Malfoy recovered, he shot a venomous look at Ron. "Come after me again, Weasley, and you won't walk away from it." He shot passed Harry and stormed out of the locker room.

Harry looked at Ron apologetically. "Sorry, but it didn't look like you were going to back down."

Ron was livid. "You use your powers on me again and we're going to have a problem," he said in a dangerous voice.

Harry folded his arms across his chest. "Don't give me a reason to and I won't."

"Don't go all fucking righteous on me, Harry. I know you wanted to hurt him as badly as I did."

"The difference was I didn't act on what I was feeling."

"I guess that's where you and me are different. I feel everything, while you can just shut yourself off from all emotions. But does that really make you a better person than me?"

Ron left, not needing to hear an answer from Harry. He might not be the one who was always right – hell, he was probably wrong more than half the time – but he knew he was right about Harry then. His friend's inability to deny his accusation as he walked out of there only served to confirm that.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

It was a Saturday afternoon when Hermione stood outside Harry's flat door. When he opened it, he looked more than a little shocked to see her standing there.

"Why didn't you just use the floo?" He asked her.

"I felt like going for a walk," she answered.

He had a feeling the real reason had been because she was afraid to run into Ron. Since it was his place, she stood a better chance of him answering the door.

"You don't have to knock, Hermione. That's why I gave you a key."

She shrugged. "It wouldn't feel right just walking in." She handed him the bag of books in her hands. "I meant to give these to you sooner, but..."

She didn't need to finish the thought. She had spent the better part of the last two weeks angry with him, so he knew why she hadn't come around before then. But it was ridiculous having her stand in his doorway like this. "Hermione, come in."

"No, I can't," she said quickly. "I have to get ready – "

"Ron's not here," he said quietly.

She looked to have run out of excuses at this, and took a tentative step inside. He closed the door behind her and led them both into the kitchen, where he dumped the bag of books onto the table.

"Can I ask why you wanted me to take these out for you?" She said, sliding into a chair, opposite him.

"I just thought it would look a lot less suspicious if you did it," he said, reading the cover off one of the books, entitled _Power of the Mind: Learning to Trust Your Instincts_. "These might be the sort of thing you would check out for the line of work you're in."

"That's not what I meant."

It was bad enough he had to confess everything to Lupin. He was really hoping he wouldn't have to do the same with Hermione. "I just don't know enough about these abilities I have. I barely understand them and I need to make sure I'm not a danger to anyone around me."

"Harry, I know you've been using your powers more lately, but you're not hurting anyone – except for yourself maybe because I know it wears you out to use them for a prolonged period of time."

"What if I am, and I just don't know it?"

Her forehead creased as she considered what he was saying. "You mean subconsciously? I suppose it's possible," she conceded. "But for you do be having this kind of impact on another person and not even realize what you were doing would require an enormous amount of power. I thought Snape said your telepathy would only be limited at best."

"He did, but he's never actually trained someone like me before, has he? I'm not even sure he completely understands my abilities. If I can project thoughts into someone's mind willingly, what's to say I can't to the same thing by accident?"

Hermione looked thoughtful. "The mind is the most complex part of the human body. What you can do with yours goes against all the laws of physics, and is still completely different from someone who has the ability to perform wandless magic. I'm not even sure if Occlumency is actually helping you to control them – it's just the only option that's out there. Can you think of any specific incidents where you thought you were influencing someone without even trying?"

He nodded, fighting to keep a blush from creeping into his cheeks.

"What happened?"

"Hermione, I'm not going to tell you that," he said, embarrassment evident in his voice.

"It might explain a lot," she said to him. "Like when your mind is most vulnerable. If these events are somehow connected we might be able to figure out a solution."

He had asked for her help, and now he was faced with having to divulge everything to her. "Ginny," he mumbled, staring down at his hands.

"Oh," said Hermione, her eyes widening slightly. "Oh," she repeated much louder this time. "That's why you stopped coming around Remus's, isn't? Even before everything that happened with Ron and I?"

"I've already talked to Remus about this, and he thought it would be best until we figured out what was going on."

"What happens when you're around her?"

Harry's head shot up. "Shit, Hermione, I'm definitely not telling you that."

"Harry, there's a reason you can't shut yourself off when you're with her. Are you empath abilities strong around her as well?"

He nodded, and trying to rid himself of feeling awkward for discussing the matter with Hermione, said "look, I'm sure these books will explain what's going on," he said, tapping his finger against one of them.

"You sure you're not just looking for an excuse to stay away from her?"

"No, I'm not," he said sharply.

"Harry, what's going on may have nothing to do with thought projection or mind control. You may just experience things more intensely around Ginny because of your feelings towards her – and her feelings for you," she added.

"Hermione, I don't even know what my feelings are."

"Then you should probably figure that out," she said. "I have to go now," she said, rising to her feet. "I told Ginny I'd help her with her hair." She grabbed his hand, forcing him to look at her. "Promise me you're not going to go jumping to conclusions before you talk to Remus or Snape about what you've read?"

When he finally nodded, she let go of his hand.

"I'll see you tonight, Harry," she said and walked out of there.

* * *

"I hate these damn robes," Ron muttered, looking at himself in the mirror.

"I thought you'd be used to this sort of thing by now after having to wear your Auror robes day in and day out," said Ginny from where she sat on her bed.

"My Auror robes are comfortable," he said, turning around, "and they don't itch my neck like this," he complained, tugging at the collar of his dress robes.

"Did someone say itch?" Said Fred, poking his head into his sister's room.

"If you want to know what a itch feels like that lasts for days, we can help you out there," George said, pulling out his wand with a grin.

"Sod off, you two."

"Temper, temper," George admonished him.

"You better change your tune, Ron, or else mum's gonna have your head tonight," Fred said to him.

"You lot are to be on your best behaviour tonight," said George, imitating their mother. "There's going to be representatives from every department of the Ministry, and I want your father to be proud of his family, not humiliated. It was kind of insulting the way she was staring at Fred and me when she said that last part. It's like she thinks all we're capable of is causing trouble," he finished, pretending to sound hurt.

"You two do kind of have a bad track record with her," Ginny said grinning.

At the same instant, the twins put on their best innocent faces, looking like Sunday school boys instead of professional pranksters. Ginny burst out laughing and Ron had to admit the picture of Fred and George looking almost angelic was rather amusing.

Hermione appeared in the doorway then, saying, "are we leaving yet?"

The twins whistled in unison.

"You look smashing, Hermione," Fred told her.

"Yes, very hot," George said in agreement. "Doesn't she look hot, Ron?"

Ron's eyes had been following her since she appeared in Ginny's room, wearing the midnight blue dress robes that bore a striking resemblance to the ones she'd worn to the Yule Ball in fourth year. They fit every curve of her body perfectly, while her hair was done up in tight curls with a few stray ringlets hanging around her face. He thought she was beautiful when she woke up in the morning and her hair was a tangled mess, but standing there in front of him now, words couldn't do justice to how gorgeous she looked. But he couldn't say any of that. He gave a shrug of his shoulders in response to George's question, and pretended to fix his robes in the mirror.

"I'm going to see if Harry's here yet," Hermione said and left the room.

"I see she's still pissed at you," George said knowingly. "But it couldn't have hurt for you to tell her how good she looked."

"Fuck off," Ron rumbled, turning away from the mirror.

Fred made a mad dash to the bed to cover Ginny's ears. "You need to watch your mouth around our baby sister's ears," he cried, looking aghast.

Ginny swatted her brother's hands away. "Please, that was actually quite charming for Ron. He's usually a lot more vulgar."

"Fred! George! Ron! Ginny! We're leaving now!" Their mother's voice rang from downstairs. "Your father's expecting us shortly."

"And the fun begins," said George with a grin as they made for downstairs.

Ron was certain he was being sarcastic. If the last ball he had attended was any indication, they were in for a night that would be anything but fun.

* * *

The Ministry of Magic had a wing on the main level dedicated to housing a variety of functions, including wizarding conventions, guest speakers, and the occasional formal event, such as the Minister's Ball. The room, which was easily large enough to fit a couple hundred people or more comfortably, had flashing streamers hanging from the ceiling that changed colours every few seconds. Two long buffet tables were set up against one wall, containing more than fifty different dishes that magically refilled whenever they got too low. A band Ron had heard his mother mention a few times over the years, called Magical Intrigue was set up on stage, playing music to the delight of those on the dance floor.

He found Hermione effortlessly, standing in a small group that consisted of her boss, and three other Ministry employees he didn't recognize. They looked to be engrossed in what was undoubtedly a conversation about something he would never understand. Hermione appeared to be enjoying herself immensely, fitting right in with the upper Ministry echelons.

"Having fun yet?" Bill said on his left.

"Oh, yeah, loads," Ron said with a roll of his eyes.

"I think if I have to have one more family picture taken, I'm going to smash the camera of that _Prophet_ reporter," Bill said with a sigh.

"Mum seems to be enjoying it," said Ron, momentarily taking his eyes off Hermione to watch their mother laugh at some joke their father had told her.

"She should be. Her and dad deserve this."

Ron knew there were few people that worked harder than his parents. Though he had protested coming tonight, he knew what this meant to them and he was happy for them.

"I heard you actually get more results with talking than staring," observed Bill, following his youngest brother's line of sight.

_Not if the person won't talk to you_, Ron thought to himself. "I guess you're here to give me the big brother knows best speech?"

"Ron, I understand why you did it, even though I think it was a bad idea. You wanted to give her the best – you just didn't count on her not wanting the same thing."

Ron didn't answer. He hated how Bill always turned out to be right just like their mother.

"This ought to be good," Bill said with a grin, turning towards the entrance. "Charlie's girlfriend just showed up."

This news was enough to drag him away from his brooding over Hermione. "Charlie has a girlfriend? Since when?"

"Since after Christmas when Dumbledore sent him across Europe to call up some old Order contacts. He met her in France when she went home to visit her parents."

Ron's jaw dropped when he saw Charlie approach the young woman by the entrance. "Fleur Delacour? He's dating her?"

Bill nodded. "We had a thing a while back, nothing too serious. I guess she likes Charlie better. It must be that whole thing about working with dragons. I just wasn't dangerous enough for her. She's not my type anyways."

Ron gave his brother an incredulous look. "Gorgeous French girls aren't your type?"

Bill just shrugged, watching their mother come over and fuss over Charlie's date.

"You want to come watch?" Bill said to him.

"Nah, I think I'll just find Harry," he said, knowing that once Fred and George got a hold of the knowledge of Charlie's girlfriend, it would be ten times more entertaining to watch.

"Suit yourself," Bill said and walked off.

It didn't take long for him to locate Harry, as he was sitting at a table by himself, looking as sullen as Ron felt.

"Did you see Charlie's girlfriend walk in?" Said Ron, knowing they could both do with a bit of cheering up.

"I didn't even know he had one," was the reply.

"It's Fleur," said Ron, watching as Harry's expression mirrored what his own had been. "Fred and George are going to be disappointed they're too wrapped up with Angelina and Alicia to notice."

"I'm sure they'll make up for it," said Harry, leaning back in his chair.

The cheerfulness that Ron had felt at learning about his brother's love life was fading fast. It was replaced with the knowledge that he had single handedly managed to make himself miserable at another ball.

In fourth year, even though he hadn't fully understood what his feelings for Hermione meant, he knew he didn't like seeing her with Krum. When they had that heated row afterwards and she had screamed that he should have asked her first instead of as a last resort, it had taken him a good year to figure out that she had wanted to go with him in the first place, but he had been too daft at the time to realize his feelings for what they were. Instead of using this ball to make up for the mess that the last one had turned out to be, he was once again watching her enjoy it with someone else, and sitting alone at a table, just as miserable as Harry.

He was sure how close Anderson was standing to her counted as inappropriate for employer-employee relations.

"Is this table strictly for brooding wizards, or can anyone sit here?" Ginny said eyeing her brother and Harry.

Ron scowled. "Shouldn't you be off dancing with that prat Dean?"

"He's not a prat, and he's actually dancing with someone else."

"So you're just lending your boyfriend out to other girls?" Ron said to her.

"Actually, he's not my boyfriend anymore," she said, letting her voice drop.

Harry choked on the butterbeer he had been drinking and went in to a coughing fit.

"You all right, mate?" Ron asked, when his friend collected himself.

"Fine," Harry croaked.

"He didn't hook up with some other girl, did he?" Ron turned back to his sister, after seeing Harry was all right. "If he pulled some stunt like that again, I'm going to – "

"While I do appreciate your big brother protectiveness," she cut in, "that's not it at all. We just decided we make better friends."

"Are you sure?" Ron grilled her. "It's not like I would hurt him unless you wanted me to."

"That's very sweet, Ron, but I swear it was mutual. No one got hurt."

"I think I need to get some air," Harry announced, standing up.

"I'll go with you," Ginny said brightly, standing up as well.

Harry looked like that was the last thing he wanted but he didn't protest as Ginny followed him back out to the Atrium.

* * *

The thought that kept repeating itself over and over in Harry's head was that there was nothing wrong with what he was doing. Ginny and Dean weren't together anymore so he wasn't hurting anyone by having her backed against the wall in a corner that obscured them from sight from anyone who might happen to walk out of the ball.

He kissed her deeply, pressing his tongue against her own. One hand clutched at his robes, pulling him closer, while the other tangled itself in his hair, guiding him down to her neck. With expert hands, he deftly undid the claps on her robe and pushed the openings aside, desperately wanting to feel her. The fact that he was supposed to be staying away from her didn't enter his mind until her hands reached inside his own robes. He grabbed them and held them at bay.

Ginny's own breathing was ragged, and she was hoping she wasn't going to have to slap him for apologizing for kissing her again.

"I have to go," he said, his breathing erratic.

"I don't understand," she said, her voice filled with confusion.

"No, you wouldn't," he said, taking a step back from her. "You need to stay away from me."

"That might make a bit more sense if you weren't the one who started this," she said coyly.

"I'm not safe to be around," he said, his voice thick with emotion.

She should have known what this was about. He didn't want her to become a target like her brother and Hermione were. "Harry, it doesn't matter that Voldemort is after you. I'm not asking you to protect me," she said, closing the gap between him and laying a hand on his arm.

"Don't touch me!" He shouted, yanking his arm free from her touch. "You're just making this worse."

She was actually afraid of him then. He wasn't making any sense. She had never seen him like this, so close to falling apart. "Tell me what's going on, Harry," she pleaded.

"I'm making you do this," he said, his voice shaking.

"Do what?"

"Coming out here to kiss me – being with me. I'm using my mind to make it happen. I don't want to, and that's why I tried staying away."

"I think I would know if there were thoughts and feelings inside of me that weren't my own."

"Haven't you ever wondered why everything is so extreme when we're together? Why neither one of us can seem to pull away? It's called subconscious mind control – I project what I want into you and it happens."

She was shaking her head. It wasn't – it couldn't be true. "You don't believe that."

"I've done the reading. What I'm doing to you is as bad as rape."

She was shaking all over now. How could he say that? He was making what they were doing sound vile and disgusting.

"Why did you follow me out here?" He demanded of her.

"I don't know," she said, feeling the first sting of tears hitting her cheeks.

"Then what does that tell you? You came after me because you were drawn to me!" He yelled, not wanting to frighten her but needing her to understand what he was doing to her. "I'm so sorry for all of this, Ginny. I wanted to keep you from my fucked up life, but I couldn't even do that. I promise it won't happen again. I'll stay away from you."

He forced himself to walk away, pretending that seeing her cry had no affect on him. He was finally going to start doing the right thing. He might have hurt her terribly now, but he knew it was better this way. Once she saw the kind of person he really was, she would realize she wanted nothing to do with him and would be better off for it.

* * *

It was almost one in the morning when the Minister's Ball had wound down enough that Hermione didn't think anyone would mind if she and Ginny left. She had known something was wrong with Ginny for a while now, but the younger girl had refused to talk about it. It was obvious that it had something to do with Harry, but Hermione wasn't about to force it out of her. She figured the best cure for whatever was bothering her would be ice cream. It wasn't long afterwards before Ginny spilt everything that had happened with Harry. It came as no surprise why was so upset after everything he had said.

Ginny was a lot calmer now, and the two of them sat across from each other in the kitchen, sharing the container of ice cream between them and flipping through recent copies of _Witch Weekly_.

"Listen to this one," Ginny said, barely able to contain her laughter. "His girlfriend left him for the lead singer of Majik, so he put this charm on himself so he could sing in order to get her back. The problem is, he can't stop singing and the Healers at St. Mungo's haven't figured out how to cure him."

"It sounds like he was quite desperate," said Hermione.

"I guess he just couldn't stand being single."

"Being in a relationship isn't always fun either," pointed out the older girl.

All joking aside, Ginny put down her magazine and looked at Hermione. "Do you think Harry's right?"

Hermione frowned. "I think Harry's jumping to conclusions."

"The more I think about it the more it makes sense. I've been pining after him since I was eleven, and even though there was Michael and Dean, I was never attracted to them the way I was to Harry. It's always been Harry for me. What if all those years, Harry had these abilities and didn't know he had them but was still able to use them? That would mean I've never actually felt anything for him. I just followed him around because I couldn't help myself."

"Ginny, we don't know what's really going on," Hermione said, trying to comfort her. "This is all new to Harry as well. He doesn't understand what's going on and it scares him. He's pulling away from you because that's what he does."

Ginny didn't think it would be affecting her this badly, and yet it was. To be faced with the possibility that none of her feelings for Harry were real – that they were just an accidental manifestation in her mind made her feel empty inside. "Ron misses you," she said, wanting to get off the topic of discussing Harry. "If it helps, I know how guilty he feels for what he did."

"I'm not doing this to hurt him," she told Ginny.

"I know," the other girl said in understanding

"It's definitely a lot easier being single," Hermione said with a sigh. "Everything's a lot less complicated too."

Ginny nodded in wholehearted agreement. "That's why it's good to be single again."

"You girls are way too young be sounding that cynical already."

Both girls jumped a mile at the sound of Tonks voice. She was standing in the doorway with Remus. They hadn't even heard the front door open.

"Tonks, what are you doing here so late?" Ginny said.

"Well I wanted to walk Remus home, you know, make sure he was safe," she said grinning.

Lupin's face was actually reddening after that comment. "Now that I'm home safe I think I'm going to head up to bed," Lupin said to them. After a short chorus of goodnight's he was on his way upstairs.

"So what's this rubbish about being single is better than a relationship?" She asked when Remus was gone.

"It is," Ginny insisted. "Look at you, Tonks, you're single and happy, and free to do whatever you want without being tied down," Ginny said, trying to emphasize her point. "But maybe you'd be happier if a certain someone were to say they had more than platonic feelings for you," she ventured boldly.

"This someone who happens to not be himself a couple of days out of the month," Hermione added.

"I think you girls have been reading too many of those trashy muggle romance novels because you're seeing something that isn't there," the Auror said smoothly.

"Or maybe he's just as oblivious as a seventeen year old boy who can't see what's right in front of his face," Ginny muttered.

"Ah, would I be correct to assume this little pity pajama party has to do with Ron and Harry?" She said, grabbing a spoon and digging it in the ice cream container. Seeing that the two girls were suddenly a lot less talkative, she knew she was right. "What you have to understand about boys is that they're basically clueless when it comes to us. They don't understand us. We say one thing when we really mean another and it drives them mad. Harry and Ron are no exception to that trap. They try to do the right thing but it doesn't always turn out the way they think it will."

This time they did hear the front door open and Ron came walking in. He mumbled a goodnight before trudging upstairs.

"I know you and Ron are having a hard time of it right now," Tonks said, watching Hermione eyeing Ron going up the stairs, "but you'd feel a lot better if you talked to him. Even if it's just to yell and scream at each other, that's better than nothing. At least everything will be out in the open where you can deal with it."

Hermione wasn't so sure about that. Screaming and yelling had done nothing to help solve things between her and Ron and the past – a lot of the time it had just made it worst. While she didn't think she was ready to forgive him yet, the fact that they were both probably exhausted might keep the fighting to a minimum. Making up her mind, she decided to follow Tonks advice, only because of how awful it felt keeping everything bottled up inside.

She found Ron upstairs in his room, tossing clothes into an open duffle bag.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"I'm staying at Harry's for a few days," he answered without turning around.

"Why?"

"Do you really have to ask me that?" He shot at her, turning around.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all that they give each other some space, but that didn't mean she was okay with him leaving.

"So was he your date tonight?" He asked, pulling his backpack out of the closet.

She knew who he was referring to. "Ron, Jack is my friend and not to mention my boss, so, no, he wasn't my date. I wasn't even aware that suddenly it was okay for us to be seeing other people."

"Maybe you would have had more fun if he had been," he said off handedly.

"I saw Fleur there, maybe you would have had more fun with her," she shot back.

"She used to be with Bill but now she's with Charlie, so I don't think I'm going to have a go at my brother's girlfriend."

"It looks to me like she's making her way through the Weasley line, maybe you'll get your chance with her after all."

"Hermione, that was fourth year. I don't know why you're still on about that."

"Krum was fourth year too, and you still haven't let that go."

"That's because he's a professional Quidditch player! You know what athletes are like."

"Viktor is a nice guy, and if you stopped being jealous of him for two seconds you would realize that!"

Ron opened his mouth to shout back, but just barely restrained himself. He didn't want to waste any more breath on Krum. "Why are you here? Because I have this vivid memory of you telling me to stay away from you. So which is it?"

"I don't know," she admitted, hugging her arms around herself.

Ron threw his hands up in the air. "You know what, I understand you less and less these days. Not that I ever really understood you to begin with."

"Why are you making this harder?"

"No, I'm making it easier," he said slinging his bad over his shoulder. "Don't worry, after tonight, I finally get it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Forget it. It doesn't matter."

She grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving. It had the desired effect and something else she wasn't expecting. They were both upset and exhausted and it had been far too long since they had been in contact with each other. Ron dropped his bag on the floor and captured her lips in a bruising kiss. He wasted no time in picking her up and sitting her on his dresser, her arms still locked around his neck as he set her down. He ripped open her pajama top, not even hearing the buttons hit the floor. They both knew what they were doing had nothing to do with love. It was about need, and wanting the other to feel a fraction of the hurt and pain each were feeling.

Ron pulled away suddenly, breathing heavily, knowing that he couldn't go through with this. Hermione pulled her shirt closed and stepped down from the dresser, so she could flee the room. Once he heard the door to her room shut, he didn't think twice about leaving.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Harry was naturally a light sleeper. Add to that the months spent at Auror training honing his reflexes and anyone who walked into his room unannounced in the middle of the night was going to be lying in St. Mungo's for a week recovering.

When the door to his room did indeed burst open without warning, his wand was in his hand and a curse flew out of his mouth before he was even fully awake. But fortunately his aim was poor and he only hit the doorframe.

"Remind me to never do that again."

Harry sat up and let his eyes adjust to the darkness. Ron was standing in the doorway, his own wand out.

"Ron? What's going on?" He asked groggily.

"Tonks just appeared in the fireplace. The Dementors have gone back to Azkaban."

Harry was alert in a matter of seconds. He grabbed his glasses off the nightstand, saying, "how long ago?"

"No one knows for sure. The warning was only received twenty minutes ago," Ron said, who was already dressed in his Auror uniform. "Moody wants us at Grimmauld Place now for an emergency meeting. We're to meet Lupin first and then apparate over."

Harry hurriedly pulled on his black turtleneck and trousers, snatching his cloak and weapons belt from his closet, putting them on as he left his room.

They used the fireplace to get to Lupin's, who was already waiting for them as soon as they stepped out. He looked uncharacteristically anxious.

"Hermione left with Tonks before you got here. Arthur went in to the Ministry to gather what information he could gather and Molly's upstairs. She's going to stay with Ginny."

No sooner had they made it to the door when Mrs. Weasley appeared at the bottom of the stairs, looking even more worrisome than Lupin.

"You will be careful, won't you?" She said to the boys.

"Mum, we'll be fine. Harry and I are always careful," Ron answered for the both of the,

"Alastor will make sure they're safe?" She said, turning her attention to Lupin.

"Molly, we have to go now," Lupin said gently, knowing he couldn't promise her anything.

Ron watched as his mother bravely held back her tears before stepping out the front door and disapparating.

* * *

The three of them reappeared at the end of the dark street, using the burnt out lamp bulbs to help mask their sudden appearance. 

Harry was shocked to see that for the most part Lupin was able to keep up as he and Ron sprinted the remainder of the distance to Phoenix Headquarters. Ron was the first to reach the spot between house eleven and thirteen where it took a brief moment for a shabby-looking door to appear. Ron wasted no time in walking up the weather worn steps and tapping his wand against the door. When the numerous locks had all open, he grabbed the door handle and almost ran head first in to Charlie.

Charlie was supposed to be off somewhere in Europe at the request of Dumbledore. "When did you get back?" Ron asked his brother.

"About an hour ago," he replied instantly. "Dumbledore came to get me. Come on, everyone's already in the dining room."

Lupin locked the door behind them, and they followed after Charlie. Harry soon found himself in a room with a dozen maps open on a table and about that many Order members gathered around it, including Hagrid, who Harry had not seen in many months. But the most startling sight was Albus Dumbledore hunched over with the others, pointing at a moving spot on one of the maps. He was the first to look up at their arrival. He met Harry's gaze briefly and Harry stared back unflinchingly.

"We don't have much time if we want to keep the Dementors from freeing the prisoners at Azkaban," the Hogwarts Headmaster said to them.

"Moody and Kingsley couldn't wait," said Tonks, her face grim. "They're already there with Mackenzie and every available Auror trying to fight them off."

"Are they just going to free the prisoners and leave?" Harry asked.

The Auror acknowledged him with a nod. "We've gathered that's their big plan. But we can't allow even one of those prisoners to go free."

"I thought it was more important we stop the Dementors." Ron knew that every person in Azkaban was dangerous and should not be allowed to escape back to the wizarding world, but he thought the Dementors were their first priority.

"It is, but you have to remember that a lot of those witches and wizards have been in there since Voldemort's last reign of power – some even longer," Hermione said to him. "They have virtually no souls left, which makes them as dangerous as Dementors and in some ways even worse. A human being without a soul would commit unspeakable horrors."

"She's right, Ron," Lupin said from beside him. "If the hundreds of prisoners in there were to escape, it would be like adding that many new Dementor's to Voldemort's army."

"How do we get there?" Bill asked.

Tonks gestured to the map in the centre of the table. In the middle was a large island with a fortress built on it that looked to be the haunted equivalent of Hogwarts. It was completely isolated by water, as the moving waves on the map showed. The closest land was a set of cliffs to the north of the prison.

"Normally, the Aurors fly dragons to get across, but we can't take the chance they'll be affected by the Dementors," said Tonks. "We'll have to get across by brooms."

"It's safe to assume the Dementors are working under the control of Voldemort," Dumbledore said to them. "They are at Azkaban with a purpose. This makes them more dangerous then any of the times you've faced them in the past," he said, looking directly at Harry before moving on. "Severus, Remus, and Hagrid, I need you three to guard the cliffs. If any prisoners make it back to the mainland you must use whatever means to stop them.

"Ron, Harry, Bill and Charlie, you're to accompany Tonks into Azkaban," he said, looking around at each one of them. "I will be leaving now to go there myself. "

"Professor, I think I would be much more useful out there. You're going to need every available person – "

"Hermione, listen to Dumbledore." Tonks ended her protests. "How are you're going to explain your presence at Azkaban to the other Aurors? No one outside the Minister's Office and Auror Department are supposed to know what's going on yet. You'll risk exposing the Order, not to mention bring suspicion towards Ron and Harry."

"What about Bill and Charlie?"

"They both have emergency Auror status. In time of crisis the Ministry can call them in to action – which Mad Eye did. I'm sorry, Hermione, but you have to stay here," Tonks concluded, her tone final. She turned to the others. "We need to move now. Too much time has already been wasted."

As they filed out, Hermione gave one last look in Ron and Harry's direction – a cross between pleading to be allowed to go with them and to tell them both to be careful. Regret was already beginning to seep in that she had done nothing to mend things between her and Ron. But he had already disappeared with Harry before she could say anything to him.

* * *

Azkaban was quite literally situated in the middle of nowhere. Though the prison itself was surrounded by water, the rocky cliffs that were the closest piece of land to it, housed no wizarding or muggle communities for at least twenty miles. 

Tonks had explained that Azkaban had the same illusion charms around it as Hogwarts. Any muggle who laid eyes on it would see the remaining bricks of an old mansion that had long ago burned down, and that the current was too rough to try taking a boat to the island.

There was a small, concealed Auror outpost on the cliff side that Harry was not able to see until Tonks removed the concealment charm from it. It was empty, but it had what they were looking for inside. He had been wondering how they would get across since none of them had brought brooms, when Tonks led them to a wall covered in mounts that were just the right size to hold brooms. At least a dozen of them were already empty.

When they were back outside, Tonks gave the order for them to mount their brooms. "It's just like riding a broom in heavy wind during a Quidditch match," she instructed Ron and Harry, since Bill and Charlie had obviously done this before. "Just keep a tight grip and don't look down."

Then she took off, with Ron, his brothers, and Harry following suit, leaving behind Snape, Hagrid, and Lupin at the Auror station.

Harry soon found Tonks words to be a bit of an understatement. He had played Quidditch in every kind of imaginable weather, but flying over a large patch of water in the dead of night, with practically no visibility was something new altogether. He constantly had to steady his broom to keep from veering off course.

The closer they flew to the wizarding prison, the more he began to sweat and felt his skin go clammy – and it had nothing to do with fear.

When the five of them landed on the island, they found it to be eerily quiet. Tonks raised her wand and unlocked the massive gate that was the only entrance to the prison. "Bill, Charlie you're together. Harry, Ron you do the same. I'll find Moody." She had to shout to be heard over the howling wind. "No heroics. We're here to repel the Dementors and make sure the prisoners stay in their cells. Dumbledore should already be in there. He's probably the only one that can force them away, but we need to weaken the Dementors to make it easier for him. Remember, there's Aurors already in there so get a clear visual of your target before you start blasting off curses. Let's go!"

She took off at a jog down the left access way. Bill and Charlie took the center pathway, leaving Ron and Harry to take the right.

The moment they were fully inside and the gate clicked shut behind them, locking them in, Harry had to clutch one hand to the moss covered concrete walls to steady himself. The Dementors had always affected him horribly, but being in the place – the corridors that they had roamed for years was almost unbearable. He could feel every ounce of the despair and pain they had brought to this place.

Ron shot him a worried look that he pretended to ignore before starting to move forward, putting as much concentration into keeping the hand steady that was holding his wand as remembering to put one foot in front of the other.

Screams seemed to ricochet off the walls and follow them wherever they went. The air was damp and it reeked of mold and rotting flesh. Harry tried to fight off thoughts of Sirius spending twelve years rotting away in there.

There were loose and cracked stones everywhere, making it necessary to carefully watch each step they took. Torches burning bright on the walls seemed to cast moving shadows off of everything. There were no windows or any other sources of illumination. Harry and Ron used their wands to shed some extra light, but it still only provided limited visibility at best.

It wasn't long before they were passing by prisoner cells, each one holding a single witch or wizard. All were sallow faced and little more than skin and bones. The ones that weren't still stunned, sat hunched in a corner with a catatonic look on their face. It was difficult to picture any of them as human beings full of life at one time. Harry quickly reminded himself that they deserved their fate. They had committed horrifying atrocities and would spend the rest of their lives paying for it. But then he wondered briefly if any of them had been innocent like Sirius.

Both boys heads snapped around when they heard a faint scratching sound.

"_Nox_," Ron muttered and the light went out on his wand. Harry quickly did the same.

Ron concealed himself around one corner, and Harry found a crevice on the opposite side to do the same. Their wands were out, waiting for whatever or whoever was making that noise to reveal themselves.

The torches above them continued to flicker and the first sallow faced prisoner limped towards them.

Ron hit him with a stunning spell, but it was only the first of many prisoners that were moving towards them. That was just the beginning of his problems. The wall where he standing was hit with a green flash of light, erupting into flying pieces of debris that narrowly missed his head. He looked over his shoulder to see what had done it.

"Shit, Harry, one of them has a wand!" He shouted.

But Harry didn't hear him. He was fighting off a Dementor that was coming straight for him.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs. A bright beam of light shot out but it barely even slowed the Dementor down.

Ron tried to stun the prisoner holding the wand, but for someone who had been a lifeless shell for years, it moved pretty fast and avoided getting hit with Ron's wand fire. It was going for Harry now but he was too busy trying to ward off the Dementor to see it. Ron's Auror training went in to action and did the only thing he could. He lunged at Harry and tackled him to the ground, feeling the curse burn a hole through the back of his cloak as he did so.

From his knees, he shouted, "_Stupefy_!" This time the spell hit its intended target right in the midsection, knocking him out cold. Before Ron could count that as a victory, the feeling of dread and misery that had been threatening to overtake him since setting foot in Azkaban came rushing at him in intense waves as the Dementor swooped down over him and Harry.

Together they shouted out the Patronus Charm, and though their Patronus' didn't take on corporeal form, the combined force of the two spells sent the Dementor staggering back.

A third beam of light was added to theirs, hitting the Dementor from behind. It swooped down over Ron and Harry and flew off down the corridor. Bill came rushing towards them.

"All right, Ron? Harry?"

They both nodded, but it was Ron who recovered from the effects of their encounter with the Dementor first. "One of the prisoners had a bloody wand!" He indicated to the stunned heap on the ground behind them before going over and pocketing the fallen wand.

Bill gave a weary sigh. "They killed a few Aurors and got their wands. That one that attacked you was the last of them. The rest are either dead or back in their cells. Moody's got a list of the prisoners here and has got a team of Aurors doing a head count. Dumbledore's getting things under control."

"What's he doing?" Harry said, his voice betraying how drained he looked.

"He's driving out the Dementors, while Moody, Charlie, and the others are stunning the remaining prisoners. I always knew Dumbledore was powerful, but his Patronus is beyond anything I've ever seen," Bill said in awe.

"Where are the last of them?" Ron asked.

"The bottom tunnels. The prisoners fled down there when we cut off their escape to the outside. You feel like going down there and helping to round up the last of the escaped prisoners?"

Ron nodded an affirmative, and so did Harry, though with much less enthusiasm. If Dumbledore was driving the Dementors away why was he still feeling so horrible? He couldn't ponder it for long because Ron and Bill were already walking off, and he had to do his best to keep up with them. The sooner the prisoners were stunned and locked away, the sooner he could be far away from Azkaban.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Hermione tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for Ginny to appear in the fireplace. It wasn't that she dreaded being at Harry's alone, she just felt a tad more comfortable if someone went with her. Oh hell, who was she fooling? She wanted to check up on them and the possibility of having to face Ron by herself was just something she wasn't ready for. He might as well have just moved in with Harry, since he practically seemed to be living there since the Minister's Ball.

Harry came into view then, looking every bit as pale as he had the night before when he had come back from Azkaban.

"Hey," he greeted her with a shaky smile.

"Harry, you look like – " she was going to say he was the splitting image of death, but decided against it. "You don't look so good," she finished.

"I've been better, can't argue with that," crossing his arms over his chest.

Bright green flames erupted in the fireplace then, which quickly died out and were replaced by the figure of Ginny Weasley.

If Harry didn't look good before, his face went as white as a sheet, seeing Ginny stepping out of the fireplace.

"Where's Ron?" Ginny asked, focusing on the clock on the wall.

"He's in the den," said Harry in a deadpan voice.

"I'm going to check on him," she said, speaking solely to Hermione. Then she took the path that led the farthest away from Harry but still in the direction of the den. When she was gone, Harry let loose on Hermione.

"What the fuck were you thinking bringing her here?"

His outburst startled her. She knew how strained things were with him and Ginny and that he had been staying away from Lupin's at all costs, except when he had Occlumency with Snape, but she had not been expecting this reaction from him. Yes, she expected him to be upset, but not like this. "Harry, calm down. I didn't bring her here. She wanted to see how Ron was doing."

"She's not supposed to be around me," he said as if that settled things.

"Don't worry, after what you said to her I think she wants the same thing. Honestly, Harry, mind rape? What were you thinking say that to her?

"She told you that?" He said incredulously.

"Yes, among other things," she said. "You started reading those books and began forming conclusions without even talking to Remus or Snape about what you found."

"You still could have warned me," he said rather sharply.

As angry as he was about Ginny, she knew that couldn't be all that was bothering him. His forehead was covered in sweat rivulets and he had shoved his hands in his jean pockets so she wouldn't see them shaking.

"Harry, you're not all right," she said moving towards him.

"No, I'm not. You shouldn't have brought her here."

"That's not what I meant," she said, her voice full of concern. "You were at Azkaban two nights ago and you look like you're still there."

He shrugged off her concern. "It's nothing. I just haven't been sleeping."

"Ron doesn't look as bad as you, does he?"

"No, he's fine."

She tried not to give away how relieved she felt.

"You know how badly the Dementors affect me," he admitted slowly. "They may have left Azkaban but it still felt like they were there to me. When that one came at me, I couldn't even conjure a proper Patronus." He had been so out of it, he hadn't even heard Ron's cries of the prisoner with the wand. Ron had saved his life and nearly lost his in the process. The curse that had burned through his cloak showed Harry how close it had been.

"You can't go back there," she told him.

"I don't have a choice. Moody's put everyone on rotating schedules. It's putting too much strain on the Aurors that have been there for months, now we all have to take turns there."

"Talk to Moody," she said stubbornly. "If he knew how bad – "

"Hermione, it's my job. I'm not asking for any special favours, all right?" He growled at her. All he needed was for the other Aurors to think he was getting special treatment because he was The Boy Who Lived.

Hermione sighed in resignation. Merlin, Harry could be stubborn. "Then let me help. I think I can make things easier for you."

He regarded her quizzically, adjusting his glasses on his nose.

"Well, I've been testing a theory," she said, suddenly averting his gaze, not wanting to see the questioning look in his eyes. "It's a spell that's essentially a combination of the Patronus and a cheering charm. It has the strength to fight back dark thoughts and despair, like the Patronus, and then the cheering charm elements provide a sense of warmth and happiness. I've already gone over it with Professor Dumbledore, and he assures me it would be safe otherwise I wouldn't have even suggested it." She pulled out her wand.

Harry looked very uncertain about this.

"You trust me, right?" She asked.

"You know I do."

Before he could change his mind, she touched her wand to his scar.

He gasped as this amazing warmth flooded through him, purging the Dementors and everything about Azkaban from his mind. When he felt her pull the wand away from him, he reached up and touched his scar. "What did you just do?" He asked in amazement.

"I'd like to know the answer to that to," said Ron coming into view, his gaze shifting between the two of them. Ginny was standing beside him with her mouth hanging open.

"How do you feel?" Hermione asked Harry. He was no longer pale, but there were still dark circles under his eyes.

"Okay… but I don't understand," he said, still running his fingers absently over his scar. In fact, he felt better than okay. He felt great, like he had gotten a week's worth of sleep in only a few short seconds.

"It was supposed to do that – purge the power the Dementors have over you from your mind."

"Hermione, that's incredible," Ginny breathed.

"Ginny and I should get going," she said. She could feel Ron's eyes on her and could easily interpret the look he was sending her. She left Harry standing there and walked back to the the fireplace.

"You shouldn't have done that," Ron's face sounded from behind her.

She spun around to face him. "You should have told someone how bad he was."

"You can't force help on Harry. You should know that by now."

"Just because he doesn't know how to ask for help, doesn't mean we can't give it to him."

"Oh, right, and helping is trying out untested spells on him."

"Ron, I would never put Harry in danger."

"Did Dumbledore really give you approval to do this?" When she didn't answer her, he all but lost his temper. "Hermione, this has to stop. You can't go around using magic like this."

"Ron, this is the only way I can help," she argued. "I'm not an Auror like you or Harry, out saving lives every day. You saw to that, remember?" She said resentfully. "You have no idea what it was like to watch you both go off to Azkaban and not be able to go with you. We're both doing everything we can to help the war effort. But this is what I'm good at and what I spent every day at Hogwarts studying for."

Ginny came in then and the argument was over before it even had a real chance to begin. Ron suddenly wanted her to stay, and it wasn't so they could fight. But she was already stepping inside the fireplace and he couldn't think of anything to get her to stay.

* * *

For once, Harry showed up at Lupin's early for his Occlumency lesson. It wasn't that he was looking forward to another session with Snape, but the sooner they get started the sooner it could be over with. 

He found Ginny and Lupin in the dining room, and though his brain told him he should just keep on walking he stopped there. He was still feeling the effects of the spell Hermione had performed on him, but it was starting to wear off. By the time his Occlumency lesson was over, he was sure to be feeling completely drained again.

"Is Snape here?" He asked Remus.

The older man nodded. "He's already in the study waiting for you."

If Snape was already waiting for him, he was bound to use the excuse that Harry was late – again.

"All right, I think that's it for another day of lessons," said Lupin, shuffling some papers into a folder. "I'll expect that essay on my desk first thing Monday morning."

"You really are a slave driver, Remus," Harry said with some amusement.

"I have to be, otherwise I'll have students taking advantage of me," he said, winking at Ginny.

She rolled her eyes. "I think it's the other way around. It'll be Christmas by the time I get through all this homework."

She gathered up her textbooks and parchments and stood up to leave. One of the papers fell loose from her pile and onto the floor."

Without thinking Harry bent down to pick it up, and his hand touched Ginny's as they both reached for it. The happiness he had been feeling moments before vanished, when she jerked her hand away from his. He backed off and she quickly retrieved the parchment before walking out of there.

"I've been doing some research," Lupin said, watching Harry's eyes follow Ginny out of the room. "Since your mind abilities obviously have to do with a direct link to Voldemort, I think once he's been destroyed they will disappear as well."

That was good news, but it was dampened somewhat by the fact that they were still a long way off from defeating Voldemort. "What about all the information on mind control?"

Lupin sighed. "Harry, I don't think anyone can give you a definite answer to that. Subconscious mind powers aren't something that can be easily detected. I'll stand by what I said before, Severus is probably the best person to ask. He'll know whether or not you'll be able to project thoughts, possibly without even realizing it. At least consider speaking with him. He's probably the only one who can give you answers."

Grudgingly, Harry nodded his head, though he knew it would be a cold day in hell before asked Snape for anything. That was the thought that stuck with him as he made his way to the study – the place that had become hell for him two nights a week.

It wasn't unusual to find Snape in a sour mood when he showed up for Occlumency, but when Harry found himself the subject of Snape's venomous glare before he even opened his mouth, he knew he was in for a rough night.

"I heard a most interesting thing the other day, Potter," he began. "It would seem that when I was in town I overheard Mr. Malfoy telling his friends an extremely incredible story."

_Fuck_. Harry tried to keep from showing like he knew what Snape was talking about, but it appeared that the Potions Master was already convinced of his guilt.

"It seems that Malfoy was having a bit of a run in with Weasley, when you came charging in to the rescue. Thought you'd show off a bit, did you?"

"I wasn't showing off," Harry said through gritted teeth. "I just needed to be sure Ron wasn't going to do something he would regret."

"Potter, you are not Weasley's mother. It is not your job to keep him in line, but since you saw fit do so anyways, you've risked exposing your powers."

"Malfoy didn't see anything."

"Then he tells a rather excellent tale of Weasley being thrown off him by an invisible force."

Harry just matched his glare, not owning up to anything that would incriminate himself further.

"You are even more arrogant than your father. You have no respect for the rules whatsoever. You just do whatever you please, with no thought as to potential consequences. It's a wonder you're not dead like him yet."

"Don't talk about my dad," Harry said, his voice dangerous.

"It's rather hard not to bring him up when you are the spitting image of him – and I do not mean that as a compliment. Malfoy is far from stupid – it's quite possible he'll figure out the mind abilities you possess. Did you stop to consider what the Dark Lord would do if he found out what you were in possession of? I cannot fathom how someone so stupid can be an Auror. They must be lowering their standards."

"Look, I know it was stupid," said Harry heatedly. "I wasn't thinking – "

"Therein lies your problem, Potter. You're impulsive and rash in the best of circumstances. You've wasted enough of my time with your inability to learn even the simplest of mind techniques."

It was a lie, but the words still had the effect Snape had been hoping for.

"How about I stop wasting your time then?" Harry shouted. "I hate fucking Occlumency and it's not like you've ever really tried to teach it to me. You spend most of the time insulting my parents and friends. I don't know what possessed Dumbledore to think I had anything to learn from you."

He had never seen Snape so outraged and it gave him a measure of satisfaction to know that he had caused it. Snape wasn't his professor and this wasn't Hogarts so there would be no punishment.

Shaking with anger, he made for the doorway.

"Potter, if you leave now, I don't care what Albus says, I will never help you again."

Harry didn't even hesitate before walking out of there.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

When Ginny trudged up the stairs after another grueling day of lessons, it was quite a shock to see her brother in his room. He was rarely ever at Lupin's, except maybe to sleep, and even then he tended to stay over at Harry's most nights. She had not even heard him enter the house, which in a way she supposed was a good thing. If he was going to be an Auror he needed to be stealthy.

"Hey, stranger," she said, walking in.

"Hey, Gin," he greeted her in return. "What are you doing with all those books?

She heaved a great sigh. "Lessons with Remus. Some of us actually have to get an education."

Ron snorted. "That sounds like something mum would say."

"She did actually," she told him. "And if I'm busy with lessons that means I'm too busy to do anything else, like get involved with the war."

That sounded exactly like something his mother would pull. She was probably doing everything in her power to keep at least one of her children out of the line of fire. He had to take his mother's side on that one, but Ron valued his life so he would never tell Ginny that.

"Ran out of clean clothes at Harry's?" She asked him as he rummaged through his dresser and dumped a pile of clothes into an empty duffle bag.

"Not exactly," he replied, going to his closet and grabbing what was hanging in there.

"Ron, what's going on?" She said, all kidding aside.

"Nothing," he answered, focusing on taking his clothes off their hangers. He actually wished he had paid more attention to his mum's folding charms. He was forced to pack the muggle way since every time he tried that particular spell his clothes would rip themselves to shreds instead of folding neatly.

"You're moving out, aren't you?" She said, not even sure why she had to ask when the evidence was right in front of her face.

"Harry said I could move in with him. He has that spare bedroom anyways," he said in an off hand sort of voice. "I finally managed to talk him in to letting me pay rent."

She could not believe how casual he sounded about the whole thing. This was a big deal – at least it should have been. She already knew how a certain someone was going to react to his decision. "What did Hermione have to say about this?"

He shrugged but made no reply.

"You didn't tell her, did you?" She said, knowing full well that his inability to answer meant just that. "I always knew you were a bit of an idiot, but did you even think about what this was going to do to her?"

"You're right, Gin, I _am_ an idiot – but not about this. It's better for everyone if I'm not here."

"This is hard for her too," she said in Hermione's defense. "You need to talk to her."

"I think we're all talked out, even when it comes to fighting – which is surprising actually."

"Ron, she'll never forgive you if she comes home and finds you gone."

He slung the duffle bag over his shoulder and faced his sister. "Then she can add that to the list of things she's never going to forgive me for," he said to her. "You can tell Remus I'll be back for the rest of my stuff later."

With those last words, he walked out of there, reminding himself that he was doing the right thing. And even though he fed Ginny the 'its better for everyone routine', he had only really been thinking about one person – himself.

* * *

If there was one thing Hermione had to admit, it was how good taking a break in the middle of the day felt. On most days she had to force herself to take a lunch because she was knee deep in research and didn't want leave even if it was just for ten minutes to go down to the small café in the Atrium and bring something back up. 

Since she had been pulling fifty hour work weeks recently, remembering to take lunch wouldn't hamper her work progress much. Of course if she had known who she was going to run into, she would have gladly skipped it.

She was just entering the line, when off to her left a pale blond person had to bring themselves to a sudden halt to avoid knocking her over.

"Watch where you're going, Granger," Malfoy spat at her, furious.

"Maybe you need to be more careful," she said smoothly.

Malfoy smirked at something passed her shoulder. "Replaced Weasley already, have you?"

"Excuse me?"

He indicated to the man sitting at a small table watching them.

"He's my – we work together," she said, clarifying for him who Jack was.

Malfoy leered. "So a little inter-office relations is it? I always knew you and the Weasel would never last."

"You don't know what you're talking about," she said, an edge in her voice.

"Oh, I think I do," he said, sounding almost gleeful. "I see him almost every day and he's rather pathetic at covering up his feelings. You know what I think? I think Weasley's finally figured out that even though you're just a dirty little mudblood he'll never be good enough for you. You make him feel stupid and worthless. What the hell do you two even have in common, aside from Potter?"

She kept her gaze focused on the back of the head of the witch in front of her. Though it was fairly obvious Malfoy had gotten the reaction out of her he had been hoping for.

"I knew you'd understand what I meant, Granger," he added before walking off.

By the time she made it to the front of the line, her appetite had all but disappeared. She walked over to where Jack was waiting and dropped her tray of food down across from his own.

"You're friends with Draco Malfoy?" He asked her.

"Hardly," she responded, unwrapping her sandwich. "We just went to school together. Do you know him?"

"Everyone knows who the Malfoy's are."

That much was true. Half the wizarding world loathed them, while the other half believed as they did – that the only real witch or wizard was a pureblood one. She didn't want to talk about the Malfoy's anymore, much less think about them. "What did the analysis say for those tests we ran on the necklace charm?" She said, forcing Draco Malfoy and everything he had said to her out of her mind.

"It came up with quite a few interesting results," Jack said lowering his voice, as this was not the sort of area they should be discussing experimental magic items out loud. "It still didn't reveal what makes it work, but we know how it mixes with the human body. Once it attaches itself to the skin, it seems to add enormous amounts of adrenaline into the bloodstream. That's at least part of what contributes to increasing the wearer's natural abilities."

"Is there any way to figure out what the magic's are that's making it work?"

"Probably, we just haven't figured it out yet, which isn't the end of the world considering the Department of Mysteries had it for almost five years and couldn't figure it out. The problem was, once the wearer took it off they couldn't find any residual effects of the magic within the body. It was like once the charm was taken off, it sucked the magic right out with it."

She couldn't believe after almost a month they had learned little more than that. Try as she might, she couldn't help but feel frustrated by the entire thing. She was used to sitting down with a problem and quickly coming up with a solution. Though she had to admit, challenges were what kept her job interesting.

After lunch, she spent the remainder of her day studying the charmed artifact. Jack checked in on her every once in awhile to offer advice or see how she was progressing, but she never had much to tell. It was becoming painfully clear that there was little more theoretical research could do for them. Someone was going to have to try it on, and maybe it would be worthwhile to have another person try on the second charm so the results of both could be studied. But there were procedures that had to be followed before that could happen – dozens of forms and other assorted paperwork needed to be approved before they could move on to that stage.

At seven o'clock, she decided to call it a day, knowing that she wasn't going to have any miraculous breakthroughs. Besides, if she tended to work later than that everyone seemed to worry about her being out alone after dark.

When she made it back to Lupin's she dropped her bag on the small table by the closet and followed the light that was coming from down the hall. Ginny was seated at the dining room table with four books spread out in front of her, writing on a piece of parchment.

"Remus didn't waste any time did he?" She said to the younger girl.

"He gave me about three days worth of work to do," said Ginny.

"Why?" Hermione asked, never picturing Lupin as one to pile on homework.

Ginny gave her a strange look. "It's a full moon tonight."

She couldn't believe how she could have forgotten that. She always kept track of the lunar cycles, and even if she hadn't Remus had been looking quite dreadful the past few days.

"Where's Tonks?" The Auror would almost always stay over on the nights when Remus would transform, and if she couldn't then Mrs. Weasley or someone else would.

"She's outside watching Remus," Ginny began uneasily. "Snape didn't come by with the Wolfsbane potion. It was really bad, Hermione."

Hermione knew all too well what Remus's transformations were like when he hadn't taken his Wolfsbane potion. He had been taking it for years straight that she wondered what it would do to the wolf inside him to suddenly be set free.

"Maybe we should get out of the house for a bit?" Ginny suggested, dropping her quill. "We could go see that muggle film you were telling me about."

It would probably do her a world of good to get out of the house and relax, but she wasn't sure how she felt about having fun when Remus was out there probably clawing himself because he was trapped in that shed.

"Tonks thought it would be a good idea too," Ginny said, seeing her hesitation. "There's nothing we can do for Remus."

She was right. Tonks would be able to handle Remus. There wasn't even a remote chance he could get out of there with all those magical locks in place. She thought about her less than stellar day and her brief confrontation with Mafloy, and decided Ginny was right. "Let me just go upstairs and change first, okay?"

"You don't have to change," Ginny said quickly.

"I can't very well go out into the muggle world with my robes on," Hermione said to her.

"Then maybe we should do something else."

"Give me five minutes," she said, not quite understanding Ginny's sudden odd behaviour.

She left the dining room and Ginny followed after her. Maybe she was more rattled by Lupin's transformation then she was letting on. Then she reached the top landing and realized what Ginny had been trying to keep from her.

She walked into Ron's room, finding all the furniture where it was supposed to be, but there were no clothes lying on the floor or over a chair, and the bookshelves were empty of any personal items.

"He came by this afternoon and took everything. I'm sorry, " Ginny said softly from behind her. "I'm sure he was going to stop by after work and tell you."

She knew Ginny was trying comfort her but it was a lie. Ron wasn't coming by. He had no intention of telling her he had moved out.

"I'm really tired. I think I'm going to lie down for a bit," she said, backing out of the room.

Ginny nodded sympathetically. "Do you need anything?"

Hermione shook her head, Ginny's words barely registering. She retreated to her room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

* * *

Harry was sure his watch was broken. No matter how many times he looked at it the hand never seemed to move more than a few minutes. He was starting to think that the atmosphere around Azkaban was somehow affecting it but that was crazy, not to mention impossible. The only thing Azkaban was affecting was him. 

He and Ron were on the first of their two-day weekly shift at the wizarding prison. Although the Dementors had not returned since Dumbledore sent them away, the Ministry was being much more cautious now in the event they returned again.

There were two other teams of Aurors at the prison with them. They would rotate every two hours, having one pair outside at all times. Harry supposed it was to provide some sort of relief but he only felt marginally better patrolling the outside perimeter. His temper was already short, and Ron was doing little to help him keep it under control.

"Damn it, Ron, stop looking at me like that," he snapped. All he needed was for the other Aurors to think he was falling apart.

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were still alive," Ron snapped back.

"I'm fine," he practically shouted.

"You're not," Ron said, coming to a stop at a corner on the other side of the main entrance. "Fuck, Harry, those prisoners in there look more alive than you. It's killing you being here."

"Don't you start with me too," he said, his eyes narrowing. He was already getting enough coddling from Hermione and Mrs. Weasley. He wasn't some weak and defenseless kid. He could take care of himself.

"Maybe you should think about asking Snape to give you Occlumency – "

"I'm not asking that bastard for anything. I don't need Occlumency. It never really helped anyways."

Ron silently disagreed with him. Since Harry stopped going to Occlumency, he had been slowly getting worse whenever they had to patrol at Azkaban. He had always sided with Harry when it came to Snape and Occlumency, but now that he could see how much being there was eating away at him, Ron wished he hadn't been so quick to jump all over Hermione when she had insisted Harry continue with his lessons back when he had first quit.

"You could talk to Moody or Mackenzie. Harry, if they knew what it was doing to you, being here, looking like you're reliving your worst nightmares they would figure something out."

"Ron, you better keep your mouth shut, or I swear – "

"You'll what?" Ron challenged. "I've seen corpses with more life then you." To prove his point, he snatched Harry's wand out of his hand and pushed him back against the rocky wall.

"What the fuck was that for?" Harry demanded, once Ron had seized his grasp on him.

Ron gave him back his wand, which Harry grasped with one shaky hand. "You're a bloody mess, that's what. Look at how easy it was for me to take your wand. Do you think a prisoner that gets out is simply going to take your wand and run?"

"I wasn't ready," he responded weakly.

Ron wasn't falling for it. With Harry's reflexes and training, he shouldn't have even been able to lay a finger on his wand, much less take it away from him. Against his better judgment, he said, "you should let Hermione do that spell on you again."

"No!" He shouted, wringing his hands through his hair. "And you know why. I can't become dependent on magic to make me feel better."

In Ron's opinion, Harry using magic to keep himself in the right frame of mind was better then having a partner who could hardly hold himself together.

"I may look like shit but I can still do my job," Harry snarled. He moved away from the wall and started walking towards the prison's one and only entrance. He made sure to keep his eyes focused on the path in front of him instead of the rocky cliffs that plunged down hundreds of metres before finally hitting the water.

* * *

Their shift didn't end until ten o'clock, and on any other night Ron would have been ravaged with hunger. But after a day at Azkaban he wanted nothing more then to pass out on his bed. One look at Harry told Ron he was going to do the same thing. 

When they walked inside, a small light on in the living room alerted them both. Ron had his wand out a second before Harry, but was thankful his reflexes were a bit slow after a day at Azkaban when he saw who it was. Hermione was sitting alone on the couch, her eyes running briefly over Harry before locking on him.

Seeing that look made Ron wish he had fallen over the side and plunged head first into the water surrounding Azkaban. He didn't need Harry's empathic or other abilities to know that the fiery look in her eyes was directed at him.

"Snape didn't give Remus the Wolfsbane potion tonight," she told them.

Though Harry's skin was pasty white and clammy, he managed to hold himself together quite well. "Remus transformed without it?"

"It's all right, Tonks is watching him."

"Where's Snape?" Harry asked, his tone bordering on rage.

"I don't know. He could be on a mission for the Order. Whatever it is, it must have been important for him not to be there."

"Don't make excuses for him," Harry snapped. "If that was going to happen, the least he could have done was warn Remus."

"Where's Ginny?" Ron asked.

"She's at Remus's."

Ron eyes widened to the size of saucers. "You left her there alone?"

"No, I didn't. Bill's there now."

Harry tossed his cloak on the kitchen table and made for the door.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked him.

"To find Snape."

"Maybe you should calm down first," said Ron, not quite believing those words had come from his mouth.

But Harry ignored him and left through the front door.

Hermione stood up. "We should go after him."

"He's been at Azkaban all day, so he's not exactly in the right frame of mind. Trust me, he just needs some time to cool off. He won't do anything stupid," Ron said, seeing the concern etched in her features.

"So this is where you're living now?" Hermione blurted out a moment later.

He thought maybe they would tip toe around the issue but Hermione had no intentions of doing that. "I moved the rest of my stuff this afternoon."

"I could see that," she said icily. "Do you want to know what it felt like seeing your room and finding everything gone?"

He flinched at the hurt in her voice. He had been too much of a coward to tell her he was moving out because he had been trying to avoid a conversation just like this one.

"It's not that big of a deal. I've been spending most of my time here anyways."

"It's a big deal to me," she said, standing up.

"I thought you would be happy about this!" He exclaimed. "You wanted space and that's exactly what I'm giving you."

"You thought the only way to do that was to move out? Do you hate being around me that much?"

"You're the one who can't stand being around me!"

"Sometimes I wonder how we were even friends to begin with," she snapped heatedly.

"If it wasn't for Harry we wouldn't even be friends," he shot back. "All we ever did was fight – we didn't even like each other!"

"Do you think my life wouldn't have been a lot simpler if I didn't have to worry about keeping you from getting expelled or failing?"

"I never asked you to do any of that! But you don't have the self-restraint to mind your own damn business. You can be such a righteous bitch I wonder why the hell I ever wanted to be with you!"

"You are the most selfish and insensitive person I have ever met. I guess after all these years I finally understand what all the insults and snide remarks meant. You're right, Ron. Harry's the only thing that ever kept us together. We were never friends and all of this has just been a huge mistake! I should have stayed in Luxembourg!" Tears were streaming down her face now and she stormed towards the door.

"Then why don't you go back there?" He shouted to her retreating back. "Do you really think anyone wants to have around a stuck up, know-it-all who thinks she's better than everyone? My life would have been so much better if I had never met you!"

"My feelings exactly!"

She wretched the door open and slammed it shut so hard her arm was left shaking afterwards.

She never wanted to lay eyes on Ron Weasley again. Ever. She had been so foolish to believe that what they had actually meant something to him, when they were really nothing more than two people who couldn't be more different.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

It was another bloody brilliant day in Ron's opinion. When his shift at Azkaban finally ended at six o'clock he didn't even know how he had made it through the day. He hadn't slept at all the night before and Harry had spent the day walking around like a man possessed. Ron didn't think it was possible but he actually looked weaker.

He knew Harry had been unsuccessful in his attempts to locate Snape, and it seemed to make him angrier when he found out from Moody that the Potions Master had indeed been called away on an urgent mission for the Order, one which Moody insisted had been more important than brewing a potion.

He and Harry changed in silence in the Auror locker room. When they walked out, Mackenzie was waiting for them.

"Potter, Weasley, let's go to my office."

She led them into the Auror department and through the maze of desks and cubicles until they arrived at her office. She indicated for them both to go inside and then shut the door.

"I'm changing your schedule for a while," she stated, getting right down to business. "Weasley I want you partnered up with Roberts for the next shift. Potter, you'll be with Davis. You two will take the wizarding villages outside of Surrey for the next couple of weeks."

"What about Azkaban?" Harry questioned.

"You're not needed there. Weasley can handle himself with Roberts."

"Why?"

"Potter, I don't have to remind you that since I'm in charge I don't have to explain the reasoning behind my orders. I just expect you to follow them. Is that understood?"

Harry nodded stiffly.

"Dismissed," she commanded.

Harry tore out of there so fast, Ron had to jog to catch up to him.

"It's not so bad," Ron said in an attempt to cheer him up. "At least Davis isn't scared of you. It's only temporary anyways– "

"You fucking traitor!" Harry spun around in fury. "You said something to Mackenzie, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't. I just talked to Moody and he – "

"And that's so much better," Harry snapped.

"Christ, Harry, have you looked at yourself lately? Because you look like a bloody zombie. Moody's not blind, he can see that too. He was already thinking of giving you another assignment anyways."

"And you gave him the convincing he needed. How long have you been planning this?"

"You think I'm out to get you? Bloody hell, you are paranoid – and it's Azkaban that's doing this to you." Harry looked like he was barely holding himself together as it was. Ron decided it was probably for the best that he didn't embarrass them both by saying he heard Harry having nightmares at least two or three times a night.

"I'm not paranoid," Harry seethed. "I'm just pissed off that my best mate wasted no time in selling me out to the first person he could come across!"

"Harry, come on, that's not it."

"Now I know how Hermione felt when we went behind her back."

Those were Harry's last words before he stormed out of the department.

* * *

The only thing Harry wanted was to be left alone, but knew that he should probably check in on Lupin. Tonks had avoided giving away too many of the gory details when he had seen her at the department, but it sounded like his former Professor had scratched and clawed himself from being locked up all night, being unable to fulfill the wolf's natural instinct to kill. 

The trip to Lupin's place was kind of a blur to Harry. His fury at Ron combined with his inability to get little more than a couple of hours sleep each night for the past two weeks, meant he was running on little more than adrenaline – and even that was running out.

He walked up the porch and into Lupin's. The first sight that greeted him was a sallow-faced Snape who was fastening his cloak, getting ready to leave. Snape threw him a look of pure contempt but said nothing.

"Where's Lupin?" Harry asked him.

"Upstairs resting. I gave him a sedative potion for the pain."

Harry could have been mistaken but it actually sounded like Snape felt guilty for what had happened. Guilty or not he wasn't going to let him off the hook.

"Where were you last night?" He questioned Snape.

"That's not your concern Potter."

"You left him to transform without the Wolfsbane. He didn't even know that was going to happen."

"I have already explained the extenuating circumstances to him. Unlike you, he understands that unfortunate yet necessary things come up that cannot be avoided."

"You could have made the potion for him before you left."

"Wolfsbane is not something that can be thrown together haphazardly. Of course, you might think that considering you have not demonstrated any skill at all for potion making."

"I bet you enjoyed it, knowing Lupin would suffer for a night."

"Potter, you may not be my pupil anymore, but continue speaking to me in this manner and I will not be so tolerating," Snape said, his voice threatening. "I think your worship of Lupin is rather misguided."

"He's ten times the man you'll ever be," Harry stated, ignoring Snape's previous warning.

"Potter, how much do you really know about your dear old professor? Aside from his lycanthropy and friendship with your parents, you know nothing about him."

"I know that you resent him because he was my dad's friend and that you cost him his job at Hogwarts by telling everyone what he was."

"If you knew the truth, Potter, you would have thanked me."

"What are you talking about?"

Snape smirked. "I think you would rather not know. The last thing I would want is for your precious Lupin to fall off that high pedestal you have him on."

Harry was growing more irritated by the second. He knew Snape was purposely goading him. It was his way of getting back at him for quitting Occlumency. Even so, Harry still wanted to hear what he had to say. "Go on, say whatever it is you've got to say. I'm listening." He knew full well there was nothing the greasy git could say to change his opinion of Lupin.

"He was in love with your mother. It went all the way back to their days at Hogwarts and even lasted after she married your father."

"You're lying," Harry fumed.

"Use your brain, Potter. Why do you think he came to Hogwarts in the first place? It certainly wasn't because Dumbledore offered him the job. You were the only thing he had left to remind him of Lily Evans. That's why he's always shown you special treatment – treated you as if you were his own flesh and blood."

Harry turned away. Snape was lying. He had to be. No one had ever mentioned anything to him. Harry had never even got the impression from Lupin that his feelings for his mother had gone beyond friendship. He had always sounded so happy when he spoke of his parents together.

"The truth is always hardest to swallow when it's about those we care about," Snape said.

"You don't know what you're talking about. He cared about her, that was all."

"Open your eyes, boy. You're too old to be coddling yourself with stories about friendship and loyalty, when you know that's not true. If your Professor Lupin is such a good man – a good friend – why did he betray your father by pursuing your mother?"

"You're lying!" Harry shouted venomously.

"Before they were married, he had an affair with your mother. Your father never knew. Only Dumbledore and I knew the truth. If you still don't believe me, ask him."

Harry couldn't stand there and listen to Snape anymore. He felt sick. He needed to get away. He grabbed the door handle and walked out, Snape's voice sounding behind him.

"I suppose it's rather ironic that the only one of your father's friends that was ever truly loyally, spent twelve years of his life rotting in Azkaban."

* * *

Harry stormed into his room, going straight for the closet. He pulled out the box he kept stored in there and brought it out into the living room. He dumped the contents of it onto the coffee table. He frantically searched through the pictures, letters, and other mementos of his parents. He scanned the photos the closest, taking extra care when watching his mother and Lupin. But the pictures did nothing to incriminate themselves. 

He came across photos of his parents, which had to have been taken shortly after they graduated Hogwarts. They were laughing and smiling, and in one of the pictures his dad would move to stand behind his mother and wrap his arms around her waist.

He threw everything back in the box and slammed the lid back on top. There was nothing there to either prove or disprove what Snape had said. He took his hands and raked them shakily through his hair. He needed to clear his head. He just needed to get one decent night of sleep and he would be all right.

Sleep actually turned out to be the worst thing for Harry. He thrashed wildly in his bed, plagued by nightmares that refused to relent or show him any kind of mercy. He could hear his father's voice screaming for his mother to take him and run. But she wouldn't and Voldemort soon found her and used the killing curse on her without even offering her a chance to beg for her life. That image soon blurred to one about eight years later, when Dudley and his friends chased him into the park after school one day, taking turns holding him down and beating him mercilessly. The only thing the Dursley's had said to their son afterwards was that he shouldn't have done it in such a public place. Everything blurred again and he found himself watching Voldemort kill Cedric in cold blood, and then he was transported back to Hogwarts, clutching Cedric's lifeless body, as everyone in the school looked on. Then Cedric turned into Sirius and he was winning the battle against Bellatrix Lestrange, but his overconfidence made him vulnerable to attack and he fell through the veil. Harry was sure he was screaming both in the dream and in real life. Again everything changed and he sat helplessly as Lucius Malfoy alternated between throwing the Cruciatus curse at Ron and Hermione. This time he couldn't break free and was powerless to do anything but watch as Ron slowly bled to death, and after a few more hits with the Cruciatus Hermione stopped getting back up.

He bolted upright in bed, breathing as if he had just run a marathon. He wiped his hands across his face, sure he was feeling a combination of sweat and tears there. He disentangled himself from his bed sheets, feeling the cold rivulets of sweat running down his back. When the oxygen finally came back to his lungs, he swung his legs over the side and hung his head between his knees.

When his legs no longer felt like jelly, he stood and stumbled towards the chair where his clothes were thrown over. He dressed in the dark, not even sure he knew where he was going.

* * *

Ginny, already dressed in her nightgown for bed, closed up her notes and textbook, finally decided to call it a night. If she didn't know better she would swear she was starting to act like Hermione with the constant working and studying, but she knew it wasn't like she had much of a choice. Her mother had booked her O.W.Ls test at the Ministry testing office for the first weekend of October. So while she was continuously reviewing her notes from fifth year, both from Hogwarts and Lupin, she still had her sixth year lessons to worry about. She knew Lupin was doing his best to go at a slower pace, at least until she took her O.W.Ls, even offering lessons on Saturday mornings so she would have less of a workload during the week. But if they continued like that for much longer, she knew she would be in danger of missing the ministry examinations the following June. If that happened she would have to wait until the Ministry booked another date for sixth year examinations for those students who were being home schooled – and she most certainly did not want what was happening with her fifth and sixth year studies to happen again. 

A quiet knocking sounded against her door then. With Lupin still recovering from his transformation, she knew the only other person it could be was Hermione. She knew there was only one thing keeping her friend up at this late hour when she had work in the morning.

She opened her door slowly, not wanting to disturb Lupin, and nearly gasped when she saw Harry standing there, clutching the doorframe and looking like he was about to pass out.

Without hesitation, she ushered him into her room and quietly shut the door behind him.

She took one look at his flushed face and the sweat running down it and knew he had to be running a fever. She pushed his bangs back and pressed the back of her hand flat against his forehead.

"Merlin, Harry, you're burning up," she said, panicked. She didn't want to disturb Remus, but this was an emergency. "I need to wake Remus– "

"No," he said, his voice harsh. "Please, Ginny," he said, his voice much softer but shaking considerably.

The sight of Harry Potter looking that scared was something she would never forget. His eyes had a pleading haunted look to them that she would have given anything to make it go away.

"I just – I need – "

He seemed incapable of forming a coherent thought, and he was shaking worse than before.

She took his hand and led him towards her bed. She helped him lie down and then grabbed the blanket that lay folded at the end of her to bed to cover him with it. He closed his eyes, but she could still see him shaking visibly under the cover of the blanket.

She grabbed her dressing gown to cover herself up and crawled onto the bed beside him. It was a long time before she allowed her eyes to close and sleep to overtake her.

* * *

_LovePadfoot5867: Hermione and Ron have some difficult times ahead but they will get back together eventually. That's all I can say without spoiling the story._


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

After the week he'd had, Ron felt there was no better place to spend his day off then down at the pub he and Harry frequently visited after their shifts ended. He would have asked Harry to join him, but then he remembered Harry hated his guts at the moment.

When he woke up around noon, which would have been unusual for him except he had been sleeping so little lately, he saw Harry was already gone. More accurate would have been that he hadn't come home yet. When he had got in around two, he walked passed Harry's room to see the bed unmade as if he had slept in it and then decided to get up and go out.

He welcomed the cool September air, knowing that a nice long walk would do him a world of good instead of simply apparating to his destination.

He was beginning to consider the fact that he was doomed to live with no one else but himself. He had thought moving out of Lupin's and in to Harry's would have made his life a bit better. Only now Harry seemed to hate him almost as much as Hermione did.

While he had no doubt Harry would get over it, Hermione was another story entirely. While he hadn't meant everything he had said to her, the damage their most recent shouting match had caused made him believe that it was really over. Those weren't the kind of things you simply forgot or pretend never happened. The more he allowed himself to think about, the more he was forced to admit that it really was Harry that had kept the three of them together all these years. It was not that hard to believe that their mutual friend was the only common factor between them. He had always known that he and Hermione were opposites, but he was finally seeing those differences at their most extreme. Whereas he wanted to have fun and avoid doing any sort of real work at all costs – except when it came to his Auror duties – Hermione was always looking for more work, like setting up SPEW campaigns and the like. Then there was his passion for Quidditch that she had never really understood, not too mention how much it bothered him that she was a million times smarter than he would ever be. It didn't take much for him to get lost in a conversation with her once she started going on about spell properties of this and that. Really, why she had even wasted her time with him in the first place was beyond him. All of his bad habits were things that weren't even in her vocabulary – procrastination, foul language, and short tempered just to name a few. He bet she had to dumb herself down sometimes just to talk to him so he would understand.

He should have just let Harry have her when he found out he kissed her, instead of fooling himself that they could be happy together and that she needed him as badly as he needed her. When the truth was she didn't need him at all. She was a strong and capable woman and all he had ever done was take that for granted when it suited him and the other times punished her for it. No wonder she wasn't so willing to forgive him now after everything he had done to hurt her since the first day he had met her.

His feet had carried him across the barrier separating the muggle world and into the ministry shopping area, which was at its busiest at midday. There might have been a war going on but people still needed to shop and eat, though they seemed to go about it much quicker these days and make less frequent trips by buying more at one time.

There was supposed to be a set of Aurors patrolling through there but he didn't see any. It wasn't as if he had covered every inch of the shopping centre. They were most likely making their rounds down the other streets.

The entrance to the pub was down a secluded street to provide a sort of privacy for its daily patrons and the other crowds it tended to attract.

Ron's eyes locked on a figure that seemed to appear out of nowhere, but he was a split second too late in drawing his wand.

"If you don't want to do this the hard way, I suggest you drop your wand."

Ron's lips curled into a snarl. He would recognize the snobbish drawl of that voice in his sleep. "I hardly ever do things the easy way," he said, keeping his wand trained on Malfoy. "It's a Weasley thing."

Malfoy was undeterred by Ron's response. "Remember how I said if you came after me again, you wouldn't walk away from it? Let's just say I got tired of waiting."

The sound of three distinct _pops_ echoed around Ron. Before he could move, a stocky hand grabbed his neck from behind and pinned him against the cobblestone wall. He felt a second hand reaching for his wand and reared his elbow back connecting with something solid. A howl of pain and a string of curses told Ron he had hit his mark. He felt the momentary lapse in his unseen attackers hold on him and used it to break free. He spun on his heel and swung his fist into the burly man's face, causing more damage to his own knuckles than anything else. The man was already regaining his balance and rammed his fist against Ron's face, sending him stumbling back. He could see out of the corner of his eye the two other attackers approaching him from either side, one of them had blood pouring out of his nose where Ron had elbowed him.

"Stop fucking around and use your wands!" Malfoy ordered.

Ron lunged at the man with the bleeding nose, grabbing him by the shoulders and using him as a shield to block the first stunning spell aimed at him. The man fell to the ground out cold. Ron snatched up the man's wand and used it disarm the one who had thrown the stunning spell.

The wand flew out of his hand but as Ron was watching that happen he missed the burly man come up from the side and send a crushing blow to his head.

Ron's head exploded with pain and his vision blurred. Doubled over in pain, he missed avoiding the next blow aimed at his rib cage. The hand holding Ron's wand was snapped back and his wand clattered uselessly to the ground.

Blood over his left eye was starting to cloud his vision worse than the pain. He kicked out using all his strength, connecting with his attacker's exposed kneecaps. Ron wasted no time in jumping over him and seizing a hold of his neck. Just as he had been trained to do in situations just like this, he wretched his attacker's head to the side, snapping his neck and letting him crumble to the ground.

The man he had disarmed was charging at him while he was still distracted with the body in front of him and bashed Ron's head against the wall. Groaning, Ron wretched himself free from his grasp and using his uninjured hand, dislocated his attacker's shoulder before ramming him head first into the wall much harder then what had been done to him a minute before.

"Not bad, Weasley," said Malfoy, coming around with his wand aimed directly at Ron's heart, "but you still lose."

Malfoy was too far away to tackle, so Ron scooped up the dropped wand belonging to one of Malfoy's goons and took aim at him. Malfoy flew backwards into the maze of stacked crates against the wall. They toppled over, burying the Slytherin beneath them.

Ron dropped the wand he had been holding like it was fire and stumbled back until he was against the wall. His mind was screaming at him to get out of there. There was no chance all that noise could have gone unnoticed by the patrons inside the pub. But he was frozen to the spot.

There was no escape for him once the pub door swung open and the first curious patron stepped outside to investigate what all the racket had been…

* * *

"Where is he?" Hermione demanded of Harry the second she walked inside Lupin's. He, Ginny, and Lupin were standing in the kitchen looking extremely tense. She had been at work when the news had come over the wireless. 

"He's upstairs," Harry told her.

She was annoyed at how calm he sounded. This was not something that you could keep a cool head over, not with the allegations she had heard. She made for the stairs but Harry grabbed her arm.

"Maybe you should give him some time," he said to her. "He's pretty shaken up about the whole thing."

"Is he hurt?"

"He looks bad, Hermione. But he wouldn't let us take him to St. Mungo's. Tonks went to get his mum. They're going to be here shortly."

She nodded her understanding and climbed the stairs. Ron was in the room that had been his when he lived there. The door was shut and there was nothing but silence to be heard coming from the other side of it.

"Ron?" She called, knocking softly. She received no answer so she knocked again. "Ron, please let me in." She couldn't stand it any longer, so she reached for the handle, saying, "I'm coming in, okay?"

There were no lights on inside but there was more than enough daylight coming in through the windows for her to see him clearly. He was keeping his back to her, facing the window.

"Ron?"

He still said nothing and it was starting to worry her.

When she was finally standing beside him, she knew what Harry had been talking about. There was a large gash just below his hairline and the blood that had been running from it had dried on his face. One eye was nearly swollen shut and the left side of his jaw was turning into one giant purplish bruise.

"Oh my god, Ron," she breathed, reaching out to touch one of the many scrapes on his face, but he pulled away. "I'm sorry," she apologized instantly.

"It's not that," he said finally bringing himself to look at her. "I just didn't want you to see me like this."

She noticed the way he was gingerly holding his right hand. "You really should go to St. Mungo's and get checked out," she said, doing her best not to sound like a nag.

"It's just a sprain. It'll heal," he assured her.

"Will you at least let me clean you up a bit before your mum gets here?" She asked gently.

Reluctantly he nodded. His mum was probably already freaked out, that he didn't want to make things any worse by causing her to faint where she saw the bloody mess that had become his face.

Hermione left and returned a minute later with a damp washcloth in one hand and a small bag in the other. He sat on the bed, letting her clean the caked blood off the side of his face.

When his eyes met hers but he didn't say anything, she said in a low voice, "what?"

"You haven't asked me about what happened," he started. "I know it's all over the news because I heard them talking about it downstairs. That's how you heard about it, right?"

She nodded and wiped the last of the dried blood off his face.

"Why haven't you asked me about what you heard?"

"Because I know most times than not, reporters aren't interested in the truth – they're just looking for an exciting story."

"What are they saying? Hermione tell me," he insisted when she hesitated.

"They're saying you cornered Malfoy in an alley and when three wizards jumped in to try and stop you, you fought them too."

"Hermione, I swear I didn't start anything," he said, his voice desperate. If there was one person he needed to believe him it was her. "I know how bad it must look," he said, looking away from her.

"I believe you," she said unwaveringly.

"You – you do?"

It was her own fault to hear that doubt present in his voice. "I know there's a lot of bad blood between you and Malfoy but you would never purposely set out to do those things to him."

He felt her begin applying the same soothing ointment she had used on his hand months earlier when he had rammed it through the wall in her room. "I was heading for the pub and he came out of nowhere," he began slowly. "He had his wand out so I pulled mine out. Then these three other guys apparated around me and we started fighting. I used one of them as a shield to block a curse and then this other guy came at me. I stopped thinking and just started reacting. I broke his neck," Ron said, the details of the attack spilling out of him. "When the other one came at me I broke his arm and then I rammed his skull into the wall again and again, until I knew he was dead. Malfoy was the only one left, and since I had lost my wand, I used one of the ones on the ground to send him crashing into that pile of crates."

"You were defending yourself," was her instant response.

"I killed two people in cold blood."

"They would have done the same to you."

"Hermione, you don't understand. It was like my Auror training took over and I couldn't help myself. I know how to kill a man three different ways with just my bare hands. You're not supposed to show the enemy mercy – and in my mind Malfoy was the enemy. I couldn't stop until I had eliminated him as a threat. He might have started it, but I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to make him pay."

He sounded so guilt ridden it tore at her. "Ron, you're a good person – you're not a monster. You didn't ask for this to happen."

"So Malfoy just got what he deserved then? And those two I killed got what was coming to them?" His words were harsh but they weren't being directed at her.

Before she could respond to that, Mrs. Weasley's frantic voice could be heard from out in the hall.

She came into the room and went to embrace her son, but Ron held out a hand to stop her. He didn't deserve to be coddled by his mother right now.

"Ron, your hurt! You really should go to St. Mungo's and get checked out. Remus thinks you might have a concussion." She touched his face with her hand to inspect him closely.

"Mum, stop fussing I'm fine," Ron snapped.

"I'll be downstairs," Hermione said, gathering her things off the bed.

She slipped out of the room and downstairs, the fretful sound of Mrs. Weasley's worried voice following her as she went.

* * *

When Hermione came back downstairs, she found Harry, Ginny and Remus in the kitchen, with the only difference being Tonks was there with them now. She was currently the one speaking. 

"It doesn't look good for Ron. It's no secret that there's a history between them."

"This isn't his fault," Harry said, growing angry. "Malfoy and those thugs ambushed Ron and he defended himself."

"Harry, we're all on Ron's side here," said Lupin calmly. "But we have to be realistic. Malfoy's in a coma, one of the other attackers is still unconscious, and the other two are dead. There are no witnesses to come forward and say what happened." As Lupin said those words to Harry, he didn't miss how the young man was doing everything in his power to avoid looking at him, just as he had for much of the afternoon.

"What's going to happen to Ron?" Hermione said, making her presence known.

"Even with the two deaths they don't have enough evidence yet to charge him with anything," Tonks said, her voice devoid of its normal humour. "They still have to launch an official investigation. They'll look into Ron's school records, talk to his old professors, and that's where they'll find out the boyhood grudge between them goes all the way back to their school days at Hogwarts. Ron does have his Auror record, which is spotless and has a lot of good mentions in it by Mackenzie, but it would have helped his case a lot if he hadn't been the only one conscious on the scene. It shows he wasn't hurt as bad as the others."

"Not as bad?" Ginny exclaimed. "Tonks, his face was covered in blood. He's a mess."

"Ginny, I know," she responded sympathetically. "But you have to understand the law enforcement officials won't see it that way. He was the only one who walked away from this."

"They were going to kill him," Harry said furious. "The only thing that saved him was his Auror training."

"That's another problem. They're going to investigate if Ron's actions were warranted. He didn't have his wand but still used his hands to kill two people. That could be seen as going beyond self-defense. And until this is resolved Mackenzie is going to have no choice but to suspend him."

Harry looked away from the Auror. The whole situation seemed to look worse and worse the more they talked about it.

"What about dad?" Ginny said. "He could – "

"No, Ginny, your father needs to stay as far away from this as possible," Lupin said sternly. "The last minister was replaced because the wizarding world finally realized how corrupt he was. Arthur can't be shown displaying any favourtism towards his own son. If he gets involved in this not only would it be political suicide but he would land himself in a lot of trouble with the Magical Law Enforcement officials if he were caught interfering in an investigation. He could lose his job over it, not to mention be facing charges for obstructing justice."

"What are the chances of Ron being cleared of the charges?" Hermione asked the adults.

"Well, if this thing does go to trial, Ron would be entitled to a fair hearing just like anyone else. He would get a lawyer and fight this thing. His chances for getting off would greatly improve if Malfoy were to wake up and admit it had been a set up and that Ron was just acting in self defense."

"There's still that other one he brought with them that's still alive, right?"

Tonks nodded. "The Healers haven't been able to revive him yet but he should make a full recovery. That doesn't mean he's going to tell us what we want to hear. He's liable to do more harm to Ron awake than unconscious."

"What about Veritaserum?"

"They only grant the use of that in extreme situations, and I doubt the ministry would consider using it under these circumstances," Tonks explained to her.

"What about linking Malfoy to his father's Death Eater activities?" Hermione asked, reaching for anything that might help Ron.

"That might be difficult," said Lupin. "Malfoy has a clean record."

"Can we do anything to help?" Ginny said.

"Yes and no," Tonks told them. "Ron's going to need all his friends to get through this, but this isn't a battle you can fight for him. You've never come up against the law like this before. We can do some investigating of our own, as long as it doesn't interfere with what the Ministry officials are doing. I hate to sound negative, but there's not a lot we can do."

A grim silence settled in the kitchen after Tonks spoke those words.

* * *

WalkingTheFallen: Thanks for your really great comments. I don't read nearly as much as I write, so just send me an email when you post your story and I'd be more than happy to give it a read. 

adrianne2: I just hope my story isn't taking over your life ;)

tabitoo: Thank you for all your amazing reviews so far. I'm glad you're loving the story.

reading-rider: I try to have a lot going on because as you said it's a lot more fun to read that way.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Ron came downstairs the next morning fully expecting to find his mother ready to fuss over him much as she had the night before. At least all of her mothering had resulted in his right eye no longer being swollen shut, but he still had one hell of a black eye. He had barely recognized himself when he looked in the mirror and saw the massively bruised face staring back at him. He had protested Hermione's attempts to heal him because he hadn't felt like he deserved it. Compared to the two people he had killed and the other two that lay unconscious at St. Mungo's, he had gotten off easy.

He had stayed the night at Lupin's, glad that he had left some clothes behind so he could change out of his bloody trousers and shirt.

He didn't see his mother anywhere. In fact, he couldn't find anyone until he stepped into the dining room and found Hermione in there. It came as no surprise to see five open books spread out in front of her.

"How do you feel?" She asked looking him over.

"Not much better than I look probably," he answered, sliding into a chair at the opposite end of the table. "Where is everybody?"

"Ginny's upstairs and Remus went out to get a few things."

He grabbed one of the books on the table and took a look at the cover. "_The Best Defense is Self-Defense_?" He gave her a curious look.

"Remus has some books in the study," she started. "I thought I'd look through them."

"You sure didn't waste any time," he noted. "It's okay. I heard what Tonks said last night. It doesn't look too good for me does it?"

"They still have to conduct the investigation," she said, choosing not to answer his question.

"I'm sure it's all over the _Prophet_," he said to her. "They wouldn't pass up the chance to exploit the Minister's son as some kind of murderer." Hermione didn't have to say anything because Ron could already tell from her expression the wizarding newspaper had already decided his guilt. "So what are they saying about me?"

"It's all just speculation. They don't have any of the facts," was her chosen response. She had thrown out the morning paper as soon as it arrived, not wanting Ron to see the headline that read _Minister's Son Turns Boyhood Grudge into Murder_, nor for him to read the four page article that went on to confirm his guilt.

A thought suddenly occurred to Ron. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

She looked down at the book in front of her. "I took the day off."

His jaw dropped. "You what?"

"I thought I would help you with a defense."

"I thought you just said they still needed to conduct an investigation?"

"It's doesn't hurt to look into it."

There was no one other than Hermione who could throw him for a loop like this. Even after how bad things were between them, she was putting him first. "You have to go to work," he told her.

"I can't. I already called in using the floo."

"Hermione, just the fact that you would consider taking a day off means more to me then you'll ever know, but this is my mess. You can't stop going to work because I screwed up."

"It's just today," she assured him. "Tomorrow's Saturday, which gives us three days to look into what happened. Remus knows someone who used to practice magical law. He thinks he can help or at least get us some books we can use."

"I think you're getting your hopes up," Ron said, the sound of defeat heavy in his voice.

If Hermione didn't know better he sounded ready to throw in the towel and pronounce himself guilty. Hermione Granger wasn't a quitter and she wasn't going to let him give up either. "Ron, I know you feel responsible, but it wasn't your fault." She didn't want to consider the possibility of him being tried and convicted. She had to believe it would never go that far. "Tell me exactly what happened," she said.

He ran a hand through his sleep-tousled hair. "I already told you."

"Tell me again."

He sighed. "I was walking down the street where O'Connors is. I didn't see anyone and then Malfoy just appeared."

"You mean he was hiding and then he showed himself?"

"No, I would have seen him. It was like one second no one was there and then I heard his voice and he was there."

"Malfoy Apparated?" She said, her tone doubtful. "Ron, Malfoy can't Apparate. You and Harry both said he failed the Apparation test." Malfoy had failed his Apparating test, while both Ron and Harry had passed on the first try. She remembered it clearly because the two of them had laughed about it for days. For some reason Malfoy had been able to remain on active duty even though he was still unable to Apparate – at least not legally.

"Maybe he took the test again."

"You would know if he had. Anyone in the Auror program is required to list if they can Apparate. If they don't they can be removed from the program and face charges.

"I'm just telling you what I saw," he snapped. "Look, I'm sorry. You're only trying to help." He dropped his hand on the table, and swore under his breath as pain shot up his arm.

"You should let me heal that."

"It's fine," he insisted. "But you should see the guy who did it to me." The immediate frown that formed on her face told him she didn't find that amusing at all. "Sorry, that was a little post-concussion humour."

Still frowning, she picked up the book in front of her and began to read. She had known it wouldn't be easy to help him, not just because of what happened, but because a lot of tension still hung between them.

"Where should I start looking?" He asked, startling her from her thoughts.

She tried not to look surprised at his sudden willingness to help himself, let alone do research from a giant, musty book. "You can start with that one," she said, pointing to the one he had picked up earlier.

He didn't protest or complain at the size of it. He opened it up and flipped through until he reached the contents page.

Together, they researched in silence.

* * *

When Harry returned home in the evening at the end of what was one of his most uneventful shifts since the Dementors attack on Azkaban, he was expecting to see Ron there, but not find Ron and Hermione in the living room together with their heads each buried in a book. 

"What's with all the books?" He asked them.

"Hermione thinks we'll find some way to get me out of the mess I'm in," Ron answered.

"It's worth a look," said Hermione. "There's not much else we can do. The Law Enforcement squad has the whole street blocked off where it happened, we can't even go down there."

Ron let out a frustrated sigh. "We've been at this all day. If we haven't found anything useful yet, I don't think we're going to."

"Where'd you get all the books?" Harry asked, hoping to stop a fight from starting. He dropped onto the couch and picked one of them up.

"From Remus mostly. The rest I checked out from the wizarding library."

Harry nodded, resisting the urge to put the book down. Ron needed his help and if Hermione thought they might find something useful in them it was worth it. Helping Ron was more important then letting his current feelings for Lupin get in the way of it.

"You don't have to do this," Ron was saying to him, knowing he had to be exhausted.

"It's okay, I don't mind," he responded.

"Ginny wanted to help too," Hermione started in an uncertain voice. "She said she would come by when she finished with her homework." She looked uneasily at Harry, remembering how upset he had been the last time Ginny had showed up unannounced.

Harry gave a sort of shrug but that was the extent of his response.

They didn't talk much after that, immersing themselves in the mountain of legal books sitting on the coffee table.

Two hours later Harry was beginning to agree with Ron's sentiments that this was a waste of time. Half the stuff he came across he didn't even understand.

Ron slammed the book he had been reading onto the coffee table. "This is a waste of time."

"We haven't even gone through half – "

"Hermione, we're not going to find anything in here. It's pointless," Ron said irritated and stood up.

"Where are you going?" She asked him.

"Anywhere. I can't look at this stuff anymore."

He walked out of there so fast he almost knocked Ginny over who just appeared in the doorway.

"Is he okay?" She said, hearing the front door slam.

"He just needs to clear his head," Harry said to her.

"Maybe we have been at this too long," said Hermione standing up. "I'm going to go back to Remus's to see if he's heard from Tonks. Maybe she was able to find out something useful."

She cleared out almost as quickly as Ron had.

"I guess the research didn't turn up anything, did it?"

"No," Harry said, his voice low.

She turned then as if to leave, and he said, "you're leaving?"

His question surprised her. "I thought you wanted me to stay away from you. That is what you said, right?"

He flinched at the coldness of her tone. "I was trying to do the right thing, Ginny."

"Does 'the right thing' involve showing up in my room in the middle of the night, asking me to let you stay?

"I shouldn't have gone to you," he said, remembering that night clearly even though he had been feverish and unable to think straight. "I was delirious and didn't even know what I was doing."

Ginny remembered that night too, comforting him until he had fallen asleep, then waking up in the morning and finding him gone. "You just left."

"It was a mistake, Ginny. I shouldn't have gone to you. That's why I thought it would be best if I was gone when you woke up."

"Because I'm incapable of controlling myself when you're around, is that it? You think I didn't turn you away because you were affecting me?"

"I don't know," he admitted, staring down at his hands. "There's a lot about my abilities that I don't understand. Even Snape doesn't understand what I can do half the time. I still don't know if what's happened with us is a result of these abilities."

"I guess I don't know either," she admitted. "I've had this infatuation with you since the day I met you. It was like no one could affect me the way you did – not Michael, not Dean, not anyone. That's not normal is it?"

Harry didn't answer.

"But I mean, I feel fine around you," she said, boldly taking his hand and lacing it through one of hers.

"We shouldn't," he said and pulled his hand from hers.

"There's no way to tell for sure if what I feel is real or if you're just doing this, is there?"

Harry swallowed and shook his head. When she didn't back away from him, he looked confused. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"It did, for a while," she admitted.

"What about now?"

"Maybe it doesn't matter anymore."

"Gin, of course it matters," he said, getting angry. "What's wrong with you? How the hell can you even think this is okay?"

"I never said I was okay with it – and maybe it is all a bit scary, but whatever this is, Harry, I feel better when I'm around you."

He squeezed his eyes shut. This was all wrong. She needed to stay away from him. "What are we doing, Gin?" He asked in a pained voice. Was she purposely hoping he would cave? Did she want him to give in?

"You tell me, Harry."

He tried looking anywhere but at her, but he couldn't. All those months of Occlumency had taught him absolutely nothing about self-control.

"Hermione's probably wondering why I'm taking so long," she said when he didn't speak. "It's probably for the best if I don't come back. I don't want to make this worse." She turned to leave.

Ignoring what his conscious was screaming at him, he said, in a low and unsteady voice, "stay."

She turned back around, and seeing the turmoil of emotions on his face was going to ask if that was really what he wanted. But then he probably didn't know what he wanted any more than she did. So Ginny ended up doing the only thing she could – she stayed with him.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Sunlight was creeping through the partially closed curtains when Ginny opened her eyes. She moved her head slightly on the pillow and found Harry propped up on one elbow watching her.

"Morning," he said, smiling at her.

She smiled back at him. She reached back to push a strand of hair out of her face and her smile disappeared. She groaned and buried her head back against the pillow. "I must have the world's worst bed head," she said, feeling the tangled mess her hair was in and picturing what a sight she must look.

"It looks nice," said Harry.

It was far from the most riveting compliment she had ever received, but the fact that it had come from Harry meant more to her then anything anyone else could have said.

She still couldn't believe that she had spent the night in Harry Potter's bed – actually, on top of the bed would have been more accurate. They had fallen asleep on the covers and at some point Harry must have got up and thrown a blanket over them both.

"How did you sleep?" She asked him. For the first time in weeks he look well rested and relaxed.

"Better than I normally do," he responded.

"Did Ron come back?"

His brow creased slightly. "I don't know. I'm sure he's okay, Ginny," he said, seeing her worried expression. "He just needed to blow off some steam."

She tried not to worry about her brother, but with the way his life seemed to have spiraled out of control the last few days it was hard not to. "I don't snore, do I?" She said, partially wanting to distract herself and partially wanting to prolong the enjoyment of waking up next to Harry.

Harry looked to be thinking the question over. "Do you want the truth?"

It took her a moment to realize he was teasing. She shoved him playfully in the shoulder.

"But it was nothing compared to Ron. He can wake the dead."

She laughed, and for the first time hoped her brother wasn't home. She most certainly did not want him to know she was there, and she was sure Harry didn't either.

"I saw Fred and George yesterday. Did you know Oliver Wood stopped by their shop?"

"I haven't seen Oliver since the summer when we went to the Quidditch World Cup. From what I've read, he's really making a name for himself. He was Puddlemere's reserve Keeper until theirs got hurt. Now he's got the starting job and a bunch of offers from team's around the league."

"The twins told me he was trying to talk them into trying out for the team. The current Beaters contracts are up at the end of the season and they're asking for too much money." She shook her head and grinned. "Fred and George who always fooled around and were never serious enough for Oliver, and now he wants them to play with him again."

Harry fell back against the pillow, wishing for the first time he was either Fred or George Weasley. Their shop was well enough off they could hire some more help and only go in a few days a week. They had no other responsibilities keeping them from doing anything that they wanted to.

"What did the twins say?" He asked her.

"At first they thought he was just playing with them, but since Oliver was never one to joke around they realized he was dead serious. They told him they would think about it."

"They were the best Beaters I ever played with," said Harry, thinking back to the days of Gryffindor and Slytherin grudge matches where the twins could hold their own and still protect the rest of the team.

"Oliver asked about you too," she said suddenly.

"Me? Why?" He said, stunned.

"Their reserve Seeker is leaving for personal reasons. In another month they're going to be holding tryouts for the vacant position."

Oliver hadn't seen him play in years, how did he even know he was still any good? More to the point, there were already dozens of solid reserve Seekers in the league and there had to be at least a handful or more with contracts expiring.

"You want to do it," said Ginny reading him carefully.

"It was good of Oliver to think of me for it, but I can't," he said, sitting up.

She sat up as well. "There's nothing wrong with thinking about it if he asks you."

"I'm not going to let him think I'm actually considering it when I can't do it," he said, his voice rough. "I have a job that I can't quit just because something else comes along."

She had figured that would be his response, but a part of her had been hoping he might consider it. She could understand his reluctance. He felt it was his duty to be an Auror and protect as many people as he could. Maybe for once in his life he should be selfish and make a decision for himself instead of for other people. But unless she wanted to pick a fight with him, there was no way she could say that to him.

"What time is it?" She asked, changing the subject.

Harry looked over his shoulder and the clock on the nightstand. "Almost nine."

"Nine?" She shrieked and jumped off the bed, nearly taking him with her.

"What's wrong?" He asked in alarm.

"I have lessons with Remus in about fifteen minutes." She frantically tried flattening out her shirt to make it less wrinkled.

Harry looked confused. "Gin, it's Saturday."

"Saturday's are my O.W.L. preparation lessons until I take the exams in October," she explained, attempting to make her hair look decent, but she couldn't tell if she was having any luck or not as there were no mirrors in Harry's room. It definitely wasn't a very girl friendly place.

She slowly opened the door to Harry's room, keeping her eyes alert for Ron. The door to his room was open, but that didn't mean he wasn't there. She wasn't going to take any chances. She was going to make a mad dash for the fireplace.

"I have to go," she said, turning back around and giving him an apologetic look.

"It's all right," he said shrugging. "I need to go for a run anyways."

She darted out of his room and made for the fireplace, not quite sure if he was angry because she pushed him about the Seeker tryouts. The only thing she was sure about was she didn't have a clue where things stood between them anymore.

* * *

"You can't just go around using untested spells like that," Remus said, getting the feeling he sounded like a broken record. 

"It wasn't exactly untested," Hermione protested. "I had done all the research – "

"And Harry ended up being your test subject," finished a vehement Remus. "That was dangerous for you and for him. You know his scar is linked to Voldemort. Who knows what kind of damage that could have caused."

"I would never use a spell on Harry if I didn't think it could work."

"That's not the point," Lupin said, growing increasingly aggravated. "You just acted without telling anyone else what you were planning. You were reckless, Hermione."

She threw him an insolent look but stayed silent. She had made the mistake of mentioning the spell she had used on Harry to fight the affects Azkaban was having on him. She had thought Remus would be impressed with her resourcefulness, but that could not have been farther from the truth. As soon as Remus had heard what she had done he was only interested in reprimanding her for trying something so dangerous.

"I know what I'm doing," she insisted, her tone resolute.

"I'm not questioning your intelligence, Hermione, but we've had this discussion before. Magic isn't something that can be bent to do your will. When you start messing around with forces you don't fully comprehend the results can be disastrous – " He stopped talking as movement outside the kitchen caught his eye. "Ginny?"

Hermione turned around just as the younger girl was coming in to view. Her appearance gave away everything.

"Ginny, you're already dressed. I didn't think we were going into town until later," Hermione said, flashing her a knowing look.

It took a moment for Ginny to catch on. "We're not. I, um, have lessons with Remus this morning," she said, her gaze flickering between Hermione and her professor. "I'm going to bring down the last of my books," she finished and took off up the stairs before anyone could say another word.

Ginny made a mad dash for her room, knowing she didn't have any books downstairs and trying to remember what subjects she was supposed to be revising today. She quickly grabbed her Transfiguration and Potions books figuring those were her two hardest subjects and that Remus would not object to her studying for them.

She looked her appearance over in the mirror and cringed. Could she have been any more obvious? She reached for her brush and started running it through her hair. She wanted to change her clothes but wondered if that would just incriminate herself further. She was stuck on that thought when Hermione showed up at her door.

"Remus is waiting for you in the study," Hermione told her.

She nodded, grabbing some parchment and a quill to shove in her knapsack. "Thanks for down there," she said, her tone grateful. "I owe you."

"You could repay that debt right now by telling me where you were," Hermione responded, even though she knew quite well who Ginny must have been with.

She let the hand holding her brush hang in mid air. Hermione was probably the only person she could tell and understand exactly what she was feeling.

"I spent the night at Harry's," she said, lowering her voice because the door to her room was open.

"I knew it," said Hermione in a triumphant voice.

"Then why'd you ask?"

"I just wanted to have my theory confirmed," she said with a shrug. "Well?" She prompted when Ginny didn't say anything.

"_Well_ nothing," Ginny said, grabbing a hair tie and throwing her hair up in a messy ponytail. "We fell asleep, that was it."

"I think that's something, Ginny."

It was Ginny's turn to shrug while she shoved the remainder of her notes into her knapsack.

"So you guys talked everything through? About Harry's powers, I mean."

"A little. We didn't really come to any astounding conclusions. I don't think we decided on anything."

"Are you going to start seeing each other?"

"I don't know," she said, sitting on her bed with a sigh. "I know how good it felt to wake up next to him, but Harry's not exactly the easiest person in the world to read. I don't know where things stand between us anymore."

"You could always ask him," she said with a smile. "That generally seems to work."

"That would be too easy," said Ginny returning the smile. "So what was going on with you and Remus downstairs? It sounded pretty intense."

"It was nothing," Hermione said, dismissively. "He thinks I'm not being careful enough when it comes to magic."

"There's nothing wrong with being a little cautious."

"Not you too, Ginny," Hermione said with a sigh. "I do this kind of stuff every day. It's _my_ job. I'm not an amateur."

"Hermione, you have to admit it's a little scary some of the things you can do. I think Remus is just worried about how powerful you're becoming."

Hermione had a feeling the word 'worried' could easily be substituted for 'afraid'. Her old professor couldn't understand how she was able to do some of the things she could do and was automatically afraid by it. She would have been too, except she knew how hard she had worked to become a powerful witch.

"Remus! Hermione! Ginny! Are you here?" A voice yelled from below.

"That's Tonks," said Ginny standing up.

Both girls headed downstairs, finding the Auror standing at the door.

"What is it, Tonks?" Remus asked, coming out of the study.

"Jeffrey Moore is awake," she started. "He was one of Ron's attackers."

"Have they questioned him already?" Hermione said.

Tonks nodded. "I just read the report myself." Her expression was grim when she spoke next. "He's going to need a lawyer. They're pressing charges."

* * *

Harry returned from his morning jog, feeling refreshed and having a much clearer head as he always did after a run. He went to grab a bottle of water from the fridge and found Ron sitting in the kitchen reading the morning paper. It was an odd sight since Ron rarely ever read the paper. 

"That must have been some walk," said Harry, unscrewing the cap on a bottle of water.

"I had a lot to think about," Ron said, still folding up the paper. There was nothing new about his case in there. It was still all speculation. As near as he could tell they were still conducting the investigation.

"Did you know Oliver Wood asked the twins to try out as Beaters for Puddlemere?" Harry asked him.

"Are you serious?" Ron asked in complete astonishment.

"Ginny said he stopped by their shop a few days ago and they told him they would think it over."

"Those bloody wankers never tell me anything," he complained, leaning back against his chair.

"She also said Oliver was looking for me," he said taking a long drink from his bottle.

Ron's forehead creased as he appeared to be thinking something over. "Schneider's the reserve Seeker for them, isn't he? I read somewhere he was taking some time off for personal reasons."

Harry nodded. "Apparently, Oliver wants me to tryout."

"Harry, that would be perfect," said Ron excitedly.

"Yeah, except it isn't," said Harry.

"Forget about being an Auror for a second. You'd probably be the most in shape of the lot with everything Mackenzie's put us through. Not to mention dozens of good players start their careers off as back ups."

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tell Ron about this. He was only making him more willing to consider the possibility.

"There's no harm in trying out if it's what you want to do," Ron was saying.

"I'm not pursuing this, Ron."

"Then why even bring it up?"

"I'm starting to wish I hadn't," muttered Harry.

"You know what I think, mate? I think you want to do this, but you're looking for other people's permission to see if it's all right."

"Harry? Ron?" A female voice called.

"We're in here, Hermione," Harry said, grateful for the timing of the interruption.

When she was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Ron said, "I hope you're not hear for more research, because I'm done with that and I'm not wasting anyone else's time with it either."

"Hermione, what is it?" Harry asked, noting her somber expression.

"Tonks just came by the house to tell us Jeffrey Moore's awake."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Though Harry was fairly certain by the look on her face it was anything but that.

"He's already been questioned. He told the law enforcement official Ron attacked Malfoy for no reason and he was just trying to break it up."

"Told you those books were a waste of time," Ron grumbled getting to his feet.

"There's still a chance Malfoy will wake up. Tonks said his vitals – "

"So he can just confirm Moore's story?" Ron snapped. "I might as well start packing for Azkaban now."

"Ron, with a good lawyer – "

"Don't take this the wrong way, Hermione, but I don't want to talk about this right now." He walked out of there and down the hall to his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"We need to go down there and talk to Moore," she said, turning to Harry.

He hesitated. If they were caught, it would probably make things even worse for Ron – if that were possible. On the other hand, they had nothing left to lose, so he agreed to go down to St. Mungo's. He hoped Hermione wasn't expecting to get a confession out of Moore because she was only setting herself up for disappointment.

At mid morning, St. Mungo's was at its busiest. Patients and Healers came and went to morning appointments, and visitors flocked through the halls as visiting hours had just started an hour earlier.

* * *

Though Hermione had no idea where Jeffrey Moore's room was, she knew there was only one way they were going to find it. Grabbing Harry's arm, she pulled him off to the side and started pushing his hair back. 

"What are you doing?" He hissed.

"Trying to make you more noticeable," she replied calmly, pushing his bangs out of the way that he often used to try and keep his lightning bolt scar hidden.

"I thought the whole point was for us to stay unnoticed."

"We have to find what room Moore is in first, and I very much doubt they're just going to tell us," she said letting her hands drop to her side, satisfied that his scar was fully visible now. "I need you to district that witch at reception while I take a look at the patient list."

"Hermione, you can't expect me to chat up some witch I don't even know – "

"I don't expect you'll have any problems once she figures out who you are. Just keep her talking until I have what we need. Go on," she said giving him a push forward when it was evident he wasn't going to move on his own.

Sure enough when Harry walked over and the young witch at reception got a look at who he was, she was practically swooning over him, taking no notice of how uncomfortable Harry appeared.

Hermione waited another thirty seconds before springing into action herself. As casually as she could she walked over to the other end of the desk and began searching for the daily patient listing. She found it sitting open on the desk. Checking to make sure the receptionist was still distracted with Harry, she leafed though it until she found Jeffrey Moore's name. When she found what she was looking for, she put the list back where she found it and stared over at Harry, trying to get his attention. When he caught her eye, she turned and started walking over towards the lifts.

It wasn't until the lift doors opened, that Harry joined her.

"I told you you wouldn't have any problems," she said, grinning at him.

"Did you find the room?" He asked, flattening the hair over his scar as they boarded the lift.

"third floor, room three fifteen," she said pressing the correct button inside the lift.

When their lift arrived on the third floor, they went right, following the sign that would take them to the head trauma ward.

"There's something else," Hermione whispered to him as they walked. "Malfoy's name wasn't on the list."

"Did you look through all the pages of patients?"

"No, but I did search through the ones that would apply," she said to him as they wound another corner. "That leaves us with two possibilities. One, Malfoy's mother put down an alias name to avoid her son being hounded by unwanted visiters, or two – he isn't here at all."

"Hermione, it's not like he can just walk out of here," Harry said, as they passed room one ten. "Tonks said he's still unconscious. That means he has to be here."

"I know," she conceded, "but something doesn't feel right about this whole thing."

They reached room three-fifteen a few moments later. The patient board only had one name on it, which meant they could question him without someone else in the room.

Without formulating a plan, they walked in, Harry using a locking spell on the door behind them. But that would only buy them a few seconds if a Healer came to check on Moore. If that happened, he and Hermione would have a lot of explaining to do.

"Jeffrey Moore?" Harry asked, looking at the young man lying in the hospital bed.

Moore's head turned at the sight of the two visitors, his eyes widening immediately when he recognized who Harry was.

"You're not allowed in here," Moore said, his voice panicked.

"Actually, they let us walk right in," said Harry, moving to stand at the foot of the bed.

"I don't know what the hell you're doing here. I already told the investigator what happened."

"How about telling the truth this time," Hermione said coolly.

"I did tell the truth," Moore snapped, forcing himself into a sitting position. "I saw Weasley attack him. He was like an animal."

"You're lying," she stated.

"Everyone knows Weasley is out to get Malfoy. Law Enforcement has everything they need for a conviction. They'll probably throw him in Azkaban without conducting a trial," he said with a touch of smugness.

"That's not going to happen," Hermione said, drawing her wand.

While Moore's eyes became fearful, Harry said, "Hermione, what are you doing?"

"You cornered him, in that alley, didn't you?" She accused.

The instant Moore began screaming for help she cast a silencing charm around the room. "Can Malfoy Apparate? Is that how Ron didn't notice him earlier?"

Moore was shaking his head, and for a moment Hermione's head cleared and she knew aiming her wand at him wasn't going to give her the answers she needed. Then she realized those thoughts weren't her own and shook them off.

She lowered her wand and marched from the room, the door unlocking and flying open at her will.

Harry ran after her, knowing they would get nothing else out of Moore. "Hermione! Hermione, stop!" He shouted.

She spun around, her face furious. "Stay out of my head, Harry. You had no right to invade my mind like that!"

He raised his voice to match hers. "You pulled your wand on him. What the hell was I supposed to do?"

"Trust me!" She yelled back. "He's a lying bastard who's trying to get Ron thrown into Azkaban!"

The rage coming off of her in waves was so intense Harry had to take a step back. "What's wrong with you?" He said, his voice dropping considerably.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

He could see she was the exact opposite of _fine_ as she pocketed her wand with shaking fingers. Whatever had her all worked up was more than just the possibility of Ron being convicted.

She started walking away, not wanting to be scrutinized by him anymore.

He grabbed her arm. "Hermione – "

"I said I was fine," she snapped, shrugging him off.

Harry recoiled as if he had just touched a wire alive with electricity, while Hermione stormed off, paying him no attention.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Harry went straight from his shift at the Ministry to Grimmauld Place where Moody was holding their weekly meeting. Unless the Auror had learned something on his own, Harry wasn't sure there was even a point to the meeting. He supposed there was a chance Moody or someone else had uncovered something as he had been too preoccupied with Ron's impending trial and a number of other things lately, too numerous to list. He knew that Ron and his parents had an appointment with a wizard lawyer in London and would not be present at Grimmauld Place that night. He hoped it went well because Ron was in desperate need of some good news.

When he arrived at Phoenix headquarters, Kingley, Tonks, Moody, Bill, Charlie, Mundungus, Snape and Lupin were all present.

"Where's Hermione?" He asked. He found it strange she would be late to an Order meeting or anything at all for that matter.

"She couldn't leave work," Tonks told him. "Had some sort of a breakthrough or something."

Harry frowned. He hadn't had a chance to talk with her about the incident at the hospital – probably because she was spending so much damn time at work. She was pulling fifty or sixty-hour weeks continuously that he knew she had to be burning herself out, yet she looked perfectly fine. For some reason that had him more worried then if she had been showing signs of fatigue or stress.

"Death Eater activity has slowed down completely recently," Moody began when everyone was assembled. "This makes it extremely difficult for the Aurors to track their movements or find any sort of pattern. We have no Death Eaters in custody, which means our only source of information are missions for The Order. Snape here," he said, indicating to the greasy haired Potions Master, "still has some contacts among the darker parts of the wizarding world. Tell them what you know."

"There are not many who are openly willing to betray the Dark Lord," Snape started. "It seems that he has instilled loyalty of a much greater kind in his followers this time around. But there are those who make a living out of overhearing bits of conversation and selling it to the highest bidder. From what my contact was able to gather it would seem the Dark Lord is building some kind of a weapon, but there are no other details."

"How reliable is this contact?" Tonks asked.

"These information seekers might be mercenaries but they keep themselves in business by giving accurate information," responded Snape.

"That doesn't give us much to go on, Severus," Lupin noted

"I don't see any of you presenting any relevant information," Snape said coldly.

"Enough," Moody barked. "We have a starting point at the very least. We just need to do some digging around on our own to find out as much about this weapon as possible. I will not be caught unprepared like when the Dementors attacked Azkaban, is that clear?"

There was a chorus of nods and murmurs of 'yes', as Moody seemed to be taking the incident with the Dementors to heart.

"Mundungus, I want you using every low life contact you have to find out information about this weapon. Use whatever blackmail you have on them. Everyone else, keep your eyes and ear open."

Moody's last words brought the meeting to a close, and as the group began to break up, Harry was one of the first one out of there.

"Harry, hold on," Lupin's voice called to him.

"I need to go. I want to see how things went with Ron's lawyer."

"This will only take a minute," Lupin said, taken aback by Harry's coldness towards him recently. "We should go somewhere a bit more private."

Harry gave a non-committal nod and followed him into the parlour. If this was going to be another lecture on how he needed to kiss Snape's arse and start up Occlumency again –

"I understand Ginny spent the night at your place a few nights ago – though she and Hermione put on a rather convincing show to try and make me believe otherwise."

He had been completely unprepared for Lupin's statement that he couldn't cover up his surprise or even deny it. "What's the big deal?"

Lupin's eyes widened. "You were the one who came to me, worried that you were somehow manipulating Ginny's feelings towards you. I told you the best thing you could do for her and yourself was to stay away from her until we figured out exactly what was going on. Does none of that matter to you anymore?"

"Of course it does," he snapped.

"Then what the hell are you doing?" Lupin said, sounding uncharacteristically angry. "You've stopped Occlumency and any other training to control your powers – "

"Stop it!" Harry shouted. "You're not my dad – you're not even my guardian, you can't tell me what to do or how to live my life!"

Remus looked taken aback by his outburst. "I may be none of those things, but I'm trying to look out for you, Harry," he said earnestly.

"The same way you looked out for my mum?" Harry said, his temper having snapped.

Lupin threw him a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"

"You and her. You were in love with her."

Lupin's face paled at the accusation. "What – who told you this?"

"It doesn't matter, but it's true, isn't it? All those years you were at school together…"

"Harry, it's not as black and white as you're making it sound."

"You had an affair with her before her and my dad got married – "

"Harry, let me explain," Lupin pleaded. "The war was starting to turn bad, and Lily and James had broken up for a short time. It was a difficult time for everyone, and your mother and I, we had always been close – "

"And that makes it right?" Harry shouted at him. "You betrayed my dad. He trusted you – I trusted you!"

"I would never come between James and Lily. When we were at school together, it was painfully obvious how much they were in love with each other. I promised myself I would never wreck that. I was happy for them, I really was. But it killed me to be having these feelings, to know that I was betraying one of my best friends. Your father never found out what out happened, but I've hated myself every day since then for being weak and lonely – for betraying your father in the worst possible way."

"How many times?" Harry asked, his voice shaking with anger. "How many?"

"Harry, Lily loved James – she was never in love with me. I was trying to be a good friend and it got out of hand."

Harry felt a disgusted sickness creeping through his body. He had been so wrong about Lupin. The one person who had done everything to be there for him, to stand up for him, was nothing more than a lying bastard.

"Is that why you took the teaching job at Hogwarts? Because I was Lily Evans son and I was all you had left to remind you of her."

Lupin fervently shook his head. "Dumbledore asked me because he wanted you to have someone in your life who could tell you about your parents, who would look out for you the way the Dursley's never did. If Severus hadn't let it slip I was a werewolf I would have stayed on."

"But you've always treated me different," Harry pushed.

"My feelings – my relationship with you, has nothing to do with your mother, Harry," Lupin said in a hoarse voice.

Harry ran a shaking hand through his hair. He didn't know what to do. He had always trusted Lupin. Lupin had always been honest with him, and now it was like staring at a stranger.

Harry bolted from the room and Lupin didn't go after him. He didn't stop, not even to apologize to Tonk who he nearly knocked over in his haste to get out of the house. He didn't stop to think why Tonks looked so upset when he ran out of Grimmauld Place.

* * *

Ron didn't know how it was possible to be so bored when his entire future was riding on the middle-aged lawyer sitting in front of him and his parents, but he was. He did his best to listen attentively, but that didn't stop his mind from wandering. The lawyer, Brian Hansen would drone on for minutes at a time about one point or another and Ron didn't see how any of it was going to help with his case. For his parents, he at least feigned paying attention, until Hansen began talking about what kind of a plea he should be entering. 

"If you want to get off with the lightest sentence possible, you might want to consider entering a plea of guilty," Hansen was saying to him.

His mother spoke before he could even open his mouth to object.

"Absolutely not!" She exclaimed. "You're supposed to be helping my son. What kind of a lawyer are you?"

"One who knows that without any witnesses to verify his story it's going to be a extremely difficult case to win. Especially once the prosecutor makes the jury aware of the hostile relationship between your son and Mr. Malfoy."

"I don't believe this," Mrs. Weasley said, shaking her head. "Arthur, we're leaving."

Mr. Weasley gently laid a hand on his wife's arm. "Molly, Brian has a lot of experience in these cases. We should at least listen to what he has to say."

Molly clearly disagreed with him, but conceded to her husband's request to at least hear the man out before walking out of there.

"As I was saying," Hansen continued when it became clear they were not going to walk out. "The prosecutor will find a link between the rivalry of Ron and Mr. Malfoy, and it will go to motive for what happened. Jeffrey Moore, one of the alleged attackers has already gone on record to the investigating authorities that Ron instigated things. Mr. Malfoy has confirmed his story – "

"What do you mean 'confirmed'? He's still in a coma," said Ron confused.

It was Hansen's turn to look confused. "You mean you didn't know Malfoy was awake?"

"No," said Mr. Weasley, looking just as perplexed as his wife. "No one has said anything to us."

"I suppose they're trying to keep the whole thing quiet. St. Mungo's doesn't want reporters buzzing around there looking to hear his side of the story."

"What did Malfoy say?" Ron dared to ask.

"He said he was heading in to the pub for a drink when you attacked him from behind without warning."

"That's not true," denied Ron, shaking his head.

"Whether it's true or not, Moore and Malfoy's stories corroborate. There's still the matter of the two young men found dead at the scene."

"It was self-defense," Ron said immediately.

"Even if that's the case, the opposing attorney can argue excess force. Was your life in that much danger you had to kill them?"

"Everything happened so fast. I was cornered by Malfoy and his goons and I just reacted." Ron looked anxiously at Hansen. "What are my chances of winning?"

Hansen gave it some thought before speaking to Ron and his parents. "A plea of guilty will show the judge and jury you admit and understand the wrongfulness of your actions. Your best defense would be to play on their emotions and use that to show how sorry you are. If you make it seem like your Auror training took over, then that would mean you had no control over your actions and could therefore not stop yourself. The maximum penalty would probably be ten years in Azkaban."

Ron looked over at his mother who gave a frightening gasp at this news. He swallowed and asked, "what if I plead innocent?"

"You could play the self defense card, but as I mentioned before the prosecutor could blow that out of the water by saying it was excessive force. We could get some witnesses to testify on behalf of your character, including your Auror instructor and friends, but that will only go so far. If you were convicted, the maximum sentence would be life. Ron, it's your choice."

Ron quietly contemplated his options. He couldn't plead guilty even if it was to get a lighter sentence. If he did, everyone would think him a murderer when all he had done was fight for his life. At first, he had thought he deserved to be punished for killing those two men, but they had attacked him and if there was one thing Mackenzie had taught him it was to fight as if your life depended on the outcome. "I want to plead not guilty."

Though Hansen frowned at his statement, his father looked at him proudly, and his mother gave him a small smile from behind her unleashed tears.

"As long as you understand what you're getting yourself into, I'll begin building a defense for you," said Hansen.

Ron gave a slight nod of his head, as his father stood up to shake Hansen's hand, followed by his mother.

A minute later Hansen was walking them out of the law office, promising he would be in touch within a few days to show them the case he had put together.

For now, Ron just wanted to go home and be left alone, but his mother thought they should stop by Remus's to see what they had missed at the Order meeting.

While his parents walked inside, he opted to stay behind on the front porch, telling them he would be inside in a minute.

The truth was he didn't want to have to face his parents again that night. He knew they were on his side, but it hurt to look at them and see the fear in their eyes as they began accepting the reality of his situation.

When he heard the screen door squeak open, he had to take a deep breath before speaking. He knew his mother meant well, but he couldn't handle her crowding him, especially now.

"Mum, I said I would be in – " He stopped talking when he saw it was Hermione, and not his mother who had stepped out onto the porch.

"I can go," she said, turning back towards the door.

"No, don't," he said to her.

Silently she walked over to where he was leaning against the railing. The only noise was the old floorboards creaking under her feet.

"Do you want to hear the good news?" He asked her. "I can plead guilty and only going to Azkaban for ten years, or I could plead innocent and if I'm really lucky I'll get to spend the rest of my life there."

She fixed him with a sharp look. "Ron, this isn't funny."

"You're right, it's not funny – it's fucked. I'm fucked," he said, leaning over the railing and hanging his head.

She didn't even think to reprimand him for this language. There were other things – much more important things to worry about. "Your dad said Malfoy's awake."

He nodded. "I guess that pretty much seals my fate, doesn't it?"

She shook her head. "You didn't take the easy way out, Ron. You knew your chances were better if you pleaded guilty, but you didn't."

"I guess that makes me a bit stupid, doesn't it?"

"No, it doesn't," she said, letting her hand come to rest beside his on the railing. "It means you weren't willing to sell yourself out by admitting to something you're not guilty of. Most people wouldn't do that, Ron." She couldn't tell him how proud she was of him for doing that, but she had a feeling he knew by the way he closed his hand over hers.

* * *

When Harry walked in the front door of his house, the television blaring from the den was evidence enough that someone else was there. When he walked in, there was a Weasley sitting curled up in a chair, but it wasn't Ron. 

"No wonder you're so fascinated by this thing," Ginny said in awe. "There's so many different programs."

"Are you waiting for Ron?"

She nodded. "His appointment with the lawyer must be over by now," she said, the concern evident in her voice. "How was the Order meeting?"

"It was all right," he said, somewhat hesitantly.

"That's fine. But in less than a year I'll be able to join as a legal adult and not mum or any of you will be able to keep things from me."

"Trust me, Gin, it's better this way," he said darkly.

Angered by his words, and the continuous implication that she was nothing more than a child, she turned off the television and stood up. "Maybe Ron stopped by Remus's." Unfortunately, Harry was standing in the doorway blocking her path. When it was clear he had not intentions of moving she said, "get out of my way, Harry."

"Is that what you really want?" He said, a mischievous glint present in his eyes.

Before she could begin formulating an answer, his lips came crashing down onto hers. As soon as her surprise melted away, she kissed him back just as hard. His lips never leaving hers, he moved them until her back was resting against the wall. Ginny gasped in pain and pushed him away.

"Did I hurt you?" He asked her.

"I'm not sure… I felt… Did something happen tonight?"

"No," he said in a firm voice.

She looked at him closely. "You feel angry and betrayed," she stated. A second later she began to look panicked. "How come I can feel that?"

He let his hands drop from her sides, looking horrified. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice mixed with guilt. He looked up in surprise when she stroked his face.

"You can tell me," she said in a low voice.

No, he couldn't. If he did, he would risk losing control completely. What he should have done was tell her to go home – that it wasn't good for her to be around him when he was like this. He could already see she was both scared and confused by what had happened. But he didn't do the right thing – he did the incredibly selfish thing.

He pressed his lips hard against hers, pushing her back against the wall. She resisted him at first, before fisting her hands through his hair and pulling him closer. He kissed his way down her neck, while his fingers undid the buttons on her shirt.

"Ron… he could walk in," she breathed, marveling at her ability to speak.

"He won't," Harry murmured, pushing her shirt off her shoulders.

She believed him, which told her the rational part of her brain had shut off completely. But the concern that her brother would catch them quickly erased itself from her mind when Harry pressed himself full against her. She let out a moan.

She helped him remove his shirt. She could feel the erratic beating of his heart, as it matched her own erratic breathing. When she felt him reach back to unclasp her bra, she wasn't sure what she was consenting to, just that she didn't want Harry to stop…


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

It didn't take much these days for Hermione's head to wander and then soon after finding herself distracted completely. Even the novelty of the work she was doing at the Department of Experimental Charms had worn off somewhat. The truth was no matter how hard she tried to keep a positive mind about the situation with Malfoy, she was beginning to feel that there would be nothing any of them could do to stop the trial from happening. Even worse was when she allowed herself to consider the possibility that Ron would be convicted. There was just too much damaging evidence that she wondered if he would even get a fair trial, especially if Narcissa Malfoy was pulling the strings. She was careful not to breathe a word of this to Ron, but judging by his defeated attitude the other night he had come to the same conclusion.

"Do you have a copy of the initial testing reports for the artifact?" Jack asked, walking into her office.

Hermione had to shake herself back to reality. She aimed her wand at the filing cabinet on the other side of her desk and the bundled pieces of parchment flew out into Jack's hands.

"Thanks. I'm hoping once I show Cynthia our last set of tests, she'll allow us to begin searching for the appropriate candidates to try them out on."

She acknowledged his words with a nod, but said nothing.

Jack went to leave, then turned back around. "How are you doing? I know it's probably none of my business but you seem kind of down lately."

"I'm sorry, I've been distracted," she admitted.

"That's perfectly understandable considering what your friend Ron is going through."

She didn't bother correcting him, because everything was such a complicated mess right now she really wasn't sure what she and Ron meant to each other anymore.

"Maybe this will help," said Jack, reaching inside his robes and pulling out a folded piece of parchment.

She took it from him, her mouth slightly hanging open in surprise when she read it.

"I'm giving you a raise," he said unnecessarily. "I've seen the work you've done and everyone here has nothing but brilliant things to say about you. I can't think of anyone else who deserves it more."

"Thank you," she said, tearing her eyes away from the parchment to look at him.

He smiled warmly. "I was more than happy to give it to you."

Hermione didn't know how to react. She was already being paid decently, and now after only four months of being there she was getting a pretty gracious raise. She hadn't taken on the job for monetary reasons, but it helped since she was living on her own at Remus's without the aid of her father, and she hated having to ask Remus for anything.

"Who are you looking into testing it on?" She asked, changing the subject.

"The Aurors, naturally," he said to her. "I don't think this early on we want to risk it on anyone else other than a pureblood one."

"If you tried it on an Auror and someone else at the same time, you would be better able to compare the effects," she suggested.

"Go on," he said to her.

"I think in order for you to fully understand what the artifact does, you need to try it on two completely different individuals to see the effects of it. One of those candidates being a pureblood and the other being a muggleborn, especially since based on all the reports I've read it's only been tested on half bloods before."

He raised an eyebrow at what she was suggesting. "I know you have this theory that it will work better with muggleborns because they don't have any other generation of magic in their bloodstream, but are you sure that's something you want to test out on yourself?"

Remus had told her she couldn't go around testing spells on other people, so why not do try this one out on herself? "I don't think the test subject should be anyone outside this office or the Aurors for security reasons. I think since I've been working on this I at least deserve the choice of whether or not to participate."

While Jack was pondering a response, Ginny Weasley burst into her office clearly out of breath.

"Hermione – " She stopped when she noticed Hermione was not the only one in the room.

"Ginny, what is it?" She knew in her gut it was not good news. Ginny would not come all the way down to the Ministry in the middle of the day when she was supposed to be in lessons with Remus otherwise.

"Hermione, we can finish this later," said Jack, noticing the urgent look on Ginny's face.

When Jack was gone, Ginny began again. "I'm sorry to just barge in. There was no one at reception, but I couldn't wait," she babbled.

"What happened?" She braced herself for the worst.

"There's not going to be a trial. Malfoy dropped the charges," she exclaimed, breaking out into a huge grin.

When the shock of what the other girl was saying had worn off, Hermione burst out grinning as well and hugged Ginny excitedly. She pulled away a moment later. "Wait a minute… I don't understand. Two days ago Malfoy regained consciousness and was pressing charges. What changed?"

"No one really understands it either," Ginny told her. "Tonks was just at the house and she told us Malfoy dropped the charges but gave no reason. She needed to stop by the Auror Department to drop something off, so I came with her," Ginny explained. "But you know what's even stranger? Jeffrey Moore is missing. The Healers went by to discharge him this morning and he was gone, so without his testimony they've got nothing on Ron now that the charges have been dropped."

"They don't think Ron had anything to do with Moore's disappearance, do they?"

Ginny immediately shook her head. "He was at the law office in London all morning with Mum and no one they questioned at St. Mungo's has seen him there."

"Does Ron know?"

"Remus went down there to tell him as soon as we left the house."

Hermione shook her head in amazement. "I still can't believe this… Ginny this is wonderful news."

"I know. I wish I could have been there to see Ron's face when Remus told him," she said, still grinning. "Listen, I should get going. Tonks is probably waiting downstairs for me, but you should stop by the pub tonight. I think that's where everyone's going to be."

"I'll see if I can get away from here," she told the younger girl.

Ginny gave her another quick hug, saying, "I know Ron would want you to be there."

After Ginny was gone, Hermione's feet seemed to be rooted to the floor in her office. If she had been distracted before, it was nothing compared to what she was feeling now.

* * *

Ron couldn't describe what he was feeling. Relief, excitement, suspicion, and about a dozen other emotions were going around in his head. He was never one to over analyze anything, but he couldn't wrap his head around why Malfoy would let him off the hook. Malfoy, who was finally going to be able to ruin his life beyond torturous insults and yet he had backed down. He just didn't get it – not to mention the fact that Jeffrey Moore had disappeared without a trace. But he couldn't discuss this with anyone. His family and friends were too happy to see him a free man that he couldn't bring himself to spoil their thrilled state by questioning his freedom. There was one person he could go to, but she hadn't even bothered to show up at the pub. 

He still had his Auror training, at least, but now he was almost three weeks behind everyone else. He had gone down to the Ministry to speak with Mackenzie once Malfoy dropping the charges had been made official. He was half expecting her to say he had missed too much time and would have to start over, but she had said nothing of the sort. He was going to have to put in some extra training time during the weekends, but she wasn't going to hold him back for what happened. In fact, she wanted him to take a couple of days off before coming back to work. He couldn't understand the logic in that, but Mackenzie's word was final so there wasn't a lot he could do about that.

He had left the celebration going on down at the pub shortly after eleven. The weeks of anxiety and sleepless nights had finally caught up with him now that he knew he could rest peacefully for a change.

He was almost home when he saw movement on the front porch. Instinctively, he reached for his wand, almost drawing it when he recognized who the person was a moment later. He quickened his pace until they were both standing on the illuminated porch.

"Are you mad? You shouldn't be standing out here alone at this time of night," he said, taking out his keys to unlock the door.

"I'm not defenseless, Ron," Hermione reminded him.

"I don't understand why you would wait out here when Harry gave you a key." He tried not to sound angry. He didn't want to end off the first great day he'd had in weeks by fighting with her.

"I'm sorry I didn't show up at the pub," she apologized.

"It's not a big deal," he said, shrugging.

"No, it is. I know how hard it's been for you and when you finally got some good news I wasn't there."

"You were there when it counted," he said, dropping his voice. "So everything's okay on the Azkaban front, but I guess we're still a mess, huh?"

She was looking at him, but she didn't say anything.

"I know you don't trust me anymore – and that's my fault. I was so sure I was protecting you I couldn't see that what I was doing was wrong," he said, meeting her gaze. "I'm sorry for everything."

"I don't think sorry can make everything we said to each other go away. Can you honestly say you can forget all that?"

"Hermione, we were both really upset. I don't even remember half the things we said," he told her. He was lying – every hurtful syllable they had yelled at each other had been permanently etched into his brain.

"What if Harry was the only reason we even talked to each other all these years?"

"Hermione, that's not true," he said quickly, moving to stand in front of her. "Maybe in the beginning we tolerated each other because of our mutual friendship with Harry," he conceded, "but I know these feelings I have for you have nothing to with being forced together all these years. We fight because that's what we do. I don't regret one second of the time I've spent with you. What I regret is wasting so much time being an arse and a prat to do anything about it."

He reached out to touch her face with his hand and she let her eyes momentarily fall shut.

"Maybe it's asking too much for you to forgive me right now, but I can wait. I don't want to lose you, Hermione."

He leaned down to kiss her, his face slowly inching closer to hers until their lips finally touched. It only took a moment for Hermione's lips to eagerly search out his but then she quickly pulled away.

"This doesn't change anything," she said, looking up at him.

"I know," he breathed, fisting his hands through her hair and pulling her towards him.

* * *

When Ron opened his eyes to the morning sunlight creeping through the partially drawn shades, it was the first time in quite awhile where he didn't feel like going back to sleep and shutting out the rest of the world. There was no way he wanted to shut any of this out. He looked down at Hermione who waslying snuggled against his chest. He knew things weren't exactly right between them, but they were a lot better then they had been in quite some time. 

He felt her stirring and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

"Morning," she said, moving off of him to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"I missed this," he said to her.

"Me too," she admitted with a smile and clasped her hand over his. She looked passed him to the clock on his dresser and sighed. "I have to go."

"What? Why?"

"Because I have to go to work."

"Can't you call in sick?" He asked her. "I mean you did that once before," he added quickly seeing the expression forming on her face.

"That was different. I had a good reason."

"This is a good reason," he said with a grin, leaning in to kiss her.

"Ron, I can't," she said, when they finally broke apart.

"It won't change anything, if that's what you're worried about," he said, gently stroking her face.

She sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. She didn't understand what was wrong with her. She had been miserable when they had been apart, and now they had a real chance to work things out, she wasn't sure if that's what she wanted. Why was she having these doubts now?

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, sitting up. "Hermione, tell me," he said, sweeping her hair to the side and kissing her shoulder.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

Ron froze. He stopped touching her and let his hands drop to his sides.

She turned her head back to look at him. " I just don't – I don't know - "

"Don't know what, Hermione?" He demanded.

She just sat there, staring down at the bed sheets. She knew she loved him, but she didn't know if this was the right thing for either of them right now. The last two months had been an emotional roller coaster and last night had been the result of all that finally coming to an end.

She felt the mattress shift as Ron got up.

"You should go. You're going to be late for work," he said, pulling on his trousers.

"Ron – "

"You don't have to say anything, okay? I get it. Last night was a mistake."

He was hurt and it made her heart ache. She didn't want things to be like this. If he would just give her a chance to explain, he would understand why last night had just added to the confused mess that was their relationship. If she had been stronger, she wouldn't have let last night happen. But she had missed Ron too much, had wanted to be with him so badly that she hadn't been able to stop herself.

She dressed quickly, but Ron was already out of the bedroom.

"Ron, please we need to talk about this," she said racing out into the hall after him.

The front door opened then and Harry stood there, his eyes moving from her to Ron and back again. She knew what it must look like, her standing there wearing her wrinkled clothes from yesterday and Ron shirtless, but it really wasn't any of Harry's business.

"I have to get to work," she muttered, and brushed passed the two boys and out the door.

Ron moved into the kitchen to get away from the watchful eye of Harry.

"Did she spend the night here?" Harry asked, joining him in the kitchen.

Ron nodded and reached for the carton of orange juice in the fridge.

Harry leaned against the doorframe. "So does this mean you two are back together?"

Ron scratched the back of his head nervously. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to be having. "One thing lead to another and it just sort of happened. I really don't know if anything's changed," he admitted.

"So you two are just shagging buddies, is that it?"

"Back off, Harry," he warned. "Whatever Hermione and I do together is none of your business, but it's nice to know you think so highly of me. Fuck, Harry, I would never screw around with her like that."

"I know that," Harry said after a moment. He sighed. "You're right, it is none of my business."

"Where were you last night?" Ron questioned him, looking to change topics.

Harry stiffened. "Out."

Even for Harry, that was an extremely vague response, but he didn't press the matter. If Harry didn't want to be forthcoming with the details that was his prerogative. "Did you make sure Ginny got home?"

"Yeah, she got home all right."

Ron regarded him carefully. It wasn't as if it was unusual for Harry to act withdrawn, but he had been acting this way a lot lately. "Are you all right?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know," he said with a shrug. "You've just been kind of, I don't know, out of it since you found out – you know, about Lupin and your mum."

Harry's jaw clenched. "I don't care about that," he lied.

"Lupin's a good guy," Ron said, knowing he would have to tread around the subject carefully.

Harry snorted. "Yeah, he's such a great guy he betrayed his best friend so he could shag the one woman that was off limits," he bit off angrily. "I'm going for a run," he finished and took off before Ron could say another word.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Ron had thought the next time he stepped into the Ministry it would be to attend his trial, not as a free man going back to his old job. He couldn't describe what he was feeling now that his life was back on track again – for the most part anyways. He had even welcomed getting up at the crack of down so he could go running in the freezing cold before work.

Harry was with him now, as they walked down the short corridor to the Auror office. It wasn't one of their weekly training days but Mackenzie had wanted to see them both before they headed into the field again. Harry had been partnered with Roberts during Ron's extended absence, and although the guy was a decent Auror, he was clumsy and that made him a liability. Another problem was Harry had been unable to use his mind abilities most of the time. He had not wanted to risk exposing himself to Roberts. He was sure the guy could be trusted, but with everything Harry had learned in his training and from Moody, trust was not to be given out freely. It had to be earned and reciprocated both ways, and even then it was a good idea to err on the side of caution.

Ron wasn't sure how the people around him would react to seeing him freed of all charges, as the circumstances around them had been extremely suspicious, but so far everyone seemed to be on his side. The Aurors that he passed sitting in their cubicles briefly smiled or gave him looks that said they had known he was innocent all along.

Mackenzie had one of the few closed-door offices in the department. Harry knocked once and a voice immediately told them to come inside.

When they were in and the door was shut behind them, Mackenzie threw Ron one of her rare grins.

"It's good to see you around here again, Weasley."

Ron grinned back. "I never thought I would look forward to getting up hours before normal people."

"I guarantee that will wear off in a couple weeks," she said in return. "Listen, as much as I want to have you back out there, I have to follow standard procedure. You've been off for more than fourteen days, which means I'm required to put you through a review of your training, as well as have you sit and write some pointless test as ordered by the Ministry. Once you've gone through all that and I've approved you're fit for duty, you can return to the field with Potter as your partner, and report in twice a week for regular training."

Ron suppressed a groan. He had known he was going to have to do a lot of catching up, but taking written tests that he would probably have to spend countless hours studying for wasn't something he had planned on.

"Draco Malfoy is no longer part of the Auror program," Mackenzie told them both. "He was released from St. Mungo's and no one has seen or heard from him. The Law Enforcement squad is looking for him to answer a few questions about Jeffrey Moore's disappearance. They may also approach either one of you, but you are not under investigation. They just need to cover every angle."

Both boys nodded. Ron almost couldn't contain his glee that he would never have to see Malfoy's smug face at the Ministry again. Wherever that bastard was hiding out, he hoped he stayed there.

"Wealey, here's some papers I'd like you to go through. It's a review of questions you may be asked on the test. If you have questions let me know," she said handing him a large folder. "I have one other thing to give you," she said reaching into the top drawer on her desk. "It's a request from the Department of Experimental Charms. Every so often they come to us with ideas they have for new magical devices or spells, and we have a volunteer list for anyone who wants to participate. Your participation is not mandatory but you are one of a small group who possess the qualities they are looking for. All I ask is that you read through the proposal. Whether you decide to do it, is entirely your choice." She handed Ron another folder, jammed with pieces of parchment inside. "They gave it out last week, but since you weren't here you're just receiving it now. They will draw a candidate this afternoon. I know it's last minute, so spend this morning going through it." She looked at Harry. "Potter, you're to meet Roberts in the training center in twenty minutes. He already has your assignment for the day. Dismissed."

They left her office and Ron said to Harry, "can you tell me what this volunteer thing is and save me the trouble of having to read through all _this_?"

"It's something they've been developing for a few months now," Harry began. "It's some kind of ancient charm that's supposed to give the Aurors a huge advantage in the field by improving their natural abilities. It's been tested a few times in the past by the Department of Mysteries, but the effects were only temporary and the candidates ended up in pretty rough shape. They're looking for a pureblood wizard to test it on, because they haven't tested it out on one before and they think it will make a difference."

"How long would I have to wear it for?" Ron asked with interest.

"Two weeks, but they would monitor your condition on a daily basis and if there were any ill effects they would get you to take it off." Harry regarded him closely. "You're going to volunteer, aren't you?"

"It's not like it's guaranteed they're going to pick me," Ron said to his friend, though as far as he knew there weren't that many pureblood Aurors left after Moody's purge of them for being involved in Harry's kidnapping last March.

"Maybe you should read what Mackenzie gave you. There's a whole page in there that lists the side effects."

"Come off it, Harry," he said with a roll of his eyes. "If you could sign up for this you would, so don't try to feed me any bullshit."

"Just read through it, would you? Then make your decision."

Instead of reading the information, the best thing would be to go straight to the source. But the last thing he wanted was for Hermione to find out he was volunteering for it. When Harry was gone he would go to Mackenzie and tell he wanted to volunteer. If he had some time in between reading that mountain of review papers she had given him, he would read through what this experiment with the charmed object would entitle.

* * *

Ron would have given anything to be aching and tired from hours of grueling training, but he was seated at a vacant desk reading through page after page of training exercises, potion properties and commonly used spells in the field. It was like he was studying for the Auror entrance exam all over again. 

"Bored, yet?" Mackenzie's voice sounded behind him.

Ron wasn't sure what answer to give her. If he said, yes, she might think he wasn't taking this seriously. But if he answered, no, she would see right through the obvious lie.

"I know this seems like a waste of time, but it's required," she said in understanding. "We need to know that you haven't lost it while you've been away. But it's going to have to wait," she added.

"Why?"

"They drew your name for the experimental charm testing. You're to report to St. Mungo's where there will be a Healer and Department representative on hand to explain everything to you. I'll see you back here tomorrow morning."

Five minutes later, Ron had apparated to St. Mungo's. He didn't know what to expect when he walked into the hospital room Mackenzie had told him to go to, but it certainly wasn't to see Hermione standing there. He had never considered she would be the Department of Experimental Charms representative. But she wasn't the only one there. There was a Healer in the room as well, and it looked like Ron had interrupted the conversation that had been going on between them.

"Ron Weasley?" The Healer surmised. At Ron's nod, he said, "good, now we can get started."

Ron walked fully into the room. He looked at Hermione, but she didn't meet his gaze.

"You both have been through the manuals you were given. Do you have any questions?"

Ron was confused. "What do you mean _we've both been through_ them? I'm the one who volunteered."

"Miss Granger has volunteered to be a candidate as well, as the Department of Experimental charms wishes to study the effects of the artifact on a pureblood and a muggleborn."

Ron gaped openly at her but she still refused to look at him.

"Before I give you the charm, I think it would be prudent to remind you both what you're getting yourselves into. These charms were designed to mimic and enhance the user's natural abilities – speed, strength, critical thinking skills, and so forth. The previous wearer's weren't able to tolerate wearing them for more than a few days before exhibiting serious side effects. The easiest way to do this is to wear the object around your neck like a necklace. If you're both still willing to proceed, I'll bring them in now."

They both nodded their consent, and as soon as the Healer was gone Hermione rounded on Ron.

"_Don't_," she said warningly.

"Don't what?" He snapped. "Tell you you're insane? Hermione, you can't do this."

"I thought you said I need to make my own decisions and you wouldn't interfere."

"Well, yeah, but only when you make sane ones! You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

"Neither do you," she was quick to point out. "Ron, the outcome of this is important. The Aurors need all the advantages they can get there since there are so few of them."

"That doesn't mean you have to be the one to test it," said Ron.

She didn't answer him and Ron lost any other chance to protest when the Healer walked back in carrying a metal tray with two silver coloured pendants on a chain. There was some writing etched into the pendants that Ron couldn't read.

"It's an obscure form of ancient Latin," Hermione told him. "The language specialists at the Ministry think it says _To Protect By Instinct_." The top linguists in the ministry had spent years trying to decipher the words and that was the closest they could come to a complete translation. Of course, they haven't even begun to figure out what that could mean.

"If you're still sure you want to do this we'll begin," the Healer said when Hermione was done.

They both continued to stand there determined to go through with this.

The Healer put the tray on a table and began speaking. "Once you have them on, I'm going to check your vitals and then you can go. I want you to return here right away if you begin feeling ill in any way. Otherwise, I want to see you both here at eight tomorrow morning and we'll see how your bodies are responding.

He went to Ron first, who picked up one of the two pendants and clasped it around his neck. Other than a brief cold sensation at what felt like metal touching his neck, Ron felt fine. The Healer moved over to Hermione next and she took the remaining pendant to wear around her neck.

"Everything seems to be normal," the Healer observed, as he checked their vitals several moments later. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," they answered in unison.

"Remember what I said. The first signs of anything usual report back here. But I'll check on the both of you tomorrow morning."

Hermione and Ron walked out of there and they strode down the hall in silence.

"So where are you going now?" He asked her.

"I'm meeting Ginny somewhere," she answered.

"How do you feel?"

"Ron, I feel fine. I would have said something if I didn't." She stopped then. He was only being concerned, and she didn't want to fight about yet another thing, so she decided to ask if he wanted to come with her.

"No, that's okay," he replied. "I've got a ton of training material to get through," he said. It sounded strange that he actually preferred to do work, but he wasn't sure he would know what to say if he stayed with her.

"I'll see you here tomorrow morning then," she said to him.

"See you then."

* * *

Hermione left the streets of Diagon Alley and entered the café where she was to meet Ginny. She was still a bit early, but her friend was there – and Lavender and Parvati were sitting with her. 

"Hermione, we haven't seen you in ages," Lavender said, when she was standing at the table.

"How is that gorgeous boss of yours?" Parvati asked.

"Er, he's fine," she said uncomfortably. How did Parvati even know who she worked for? She hadn't seen her let alone spoken to her in months.

"Oh, isn't that Katie Beckensworth over there?" Lavender pointed. "We haven't seen her since August."

"We'll be right back. We're just going to say hi to a friend," Parvati told them and both girls shuffled out of the both.

Hermione sat down in the now vacant spot across from Ginny.

"Sorry," Ginny immediately apologized. "They saw me sitting here alone and came over."

"It's okay," Hermione assured her. "Ninety percent of the time they're really not evil."

Ginny laughed and glanced at her watch. "Wow, you're early. I was expecting to wait at least another hour."

"I know I've been a bit preoccupied with work lately," she began, sounding apologetic. "All right, _obsessed_," she admitted seeing Ginny's look. "But there's just a lot going on right now." She hoped her robes would help conceal the chain around her neck. She wasn't one to wear jewelry and no doubt Lavender and Parvati would be all over her with questions if they spotted it.

"It's good that you decided to have a life for an evening. You deserve it," Ginny said.

"Speaking of having a life," Hermione began playfully, "how are things with you and Harry?"

"We're not a couple if that's what you're thinking," Ginny informed her. "We just, you know, hang out on occasion."

"Have you two done it?"

"Hermione!" Ginny cried in a hushed voice, not believing what her friend was asking her. "No, we haven't," she answered finally. "We've come close a few times but that's it."

"But you're not actually dating?"

She had known Hermione would disapprove. She didn't have to listen hard to hear the criticism in her friend's voice. "I know what you're thinking, but it's better this way. I don't think Harry wants to be in that kind of a relationship."

"What about what you want?"

"I'm okay with it, for now," she said with a shrug. "I'm not even sure Harry knows what he wants. I mean, it's not like we've shagged or anything."

"You think that means he's not interested?"

"Hermione, Harry seems pretty experienced," Ginny confided in her. "I don't think he's been with any other girl besides Cho, but maybe this is a sign."

"Gin, maybe he really cares about you and is scared of messing things up. I know he was with Cho last year, but after what happened in fifth year I don't think he was really that interested in her anymore. As for other girls, well, Harry and Ron may be my best friends but they don't normally discuss other girls like that when I'm around. Those are conversations I'm happy not to be a part of."

They could see Lavender and Parvati returning then, and dropped their current line of conversation. Hermione announced she was going to the loo and left, leaving Ginny alone with the other girls.

She knew was probably overreacting and Hermione was right, but there was still that nagging sense of doubt hanging in her mind. She wondered what kind of response she would get out of Lavender and Parvati. Though Hermione had never lied to her before, she was her friend and probably wouldn't give the same answer as them.

"Can I ask you both something?"

The two girls nodded, looking interested.

"I have this friend and she's been seeing this guy for awhile now. Anyways, she wants to know what it means if a guy doesn't want to shag?"

"There's a few explanations for that," Lavender began. "Either he's gay," she said, ticking it off on her finger, "or he's – actually that's the only explanation. Guys think about it all the time. Not one of them would be daft enough to throw away a chance to do it."

"He's not gay, I'm sure of it and so is my friend. He's been with other girls in the past."

"Then he's just not attracted to her," Parvati said simply. "She might as well dump him and move on before he gets the chance to do it."

"I'll be sure to tell her that," said Ginny, managing to keep her expression from betraying anything.

That was a completely different perspective on the situation. She should have just listened to the annoying voice in her head that had warned her against asking the social twins in the first place.

* * *

Ginny was as surprised as Hermione that they could get through a meal with Lavender and Parvati and the topic of conversation would not automatically turn to boys or make up. Hermione had told her before that the girls may give the appearance of being shallow but if you could stand getting to know them, they were all right. She had never really believed Hermione before that night. 

"Remus?" Hermione called out as they entered the house.

"He's probably not here," Ginny said with a knowing smile. "He has a date with Tonks."

Hermione looked stunned. "What? Where was I when this happened?" She asked, removing her cloak.

"Actually, it was Order business, not a date," Lupin corrected, emerging from the study and startling both girls. Nonetheless, his face had turned a light shade of crimson.

Ginny looked at Hermione and mouthed the word 'date', and she had to stifle a giggle.

"What's that around your neck?" Ginny asked a second later, noticing the silver chain for the first time and the shiny blue metallic pendant hanging from it. She wondered if her brother had given that to Hermione as a way of mending fences between them

"It's nothing really," Hermione said dismissively, attempting to hide it inside her shirt. Lupin's frown told her it was a wasted effort. He had seen her working on reports of the South American artifact at home. She had even asked him for his help on occasion.

"Hermione, I really hope that's not what I think it is," Lupin said to her.

"Remus, it's just a test. I can take it off if anything happens. Besides, I'll be checking in with the Healer at St. Mungo's every day to make sure I'm fine."

"I guess I must have been talking to myself all those times when I said you need to stop testing new magic's," he said, his voice betraying his anger.

"Hold on, what's going on?" Ginny asked. "What is that thing?"

"It's supposed to increase the abilities of the person wearing it. The Department of Mysteries worked on it for years and could never make it compatible with the human body, but the Department of Experimental Charms sees to think that after a few months they have all the answers," Lupin said to her.

"There's actually two of them," Hermione said in a low voice. "Ron has the other one."

If Lupin looked furious before, he was absolutely incensed now. "I don't believe this," he said, shaking his head. "Molly is going to be absolutely livid when she hears about this. "Where is, Ron now?"

"Probably at home," Hermione answered.

"Bring him here," he told her.

She had the easy task. Hermione could only imagine Molly Weasley's reaction when Remus told her what her son had done.

* * *

"Unbelievable," Mrs Weasley fumed. "To think you would do something so – so stupid is beyond me! How could you make this decision without even telling anyone? And dragging poor Hermione in to it, how could you?" 

"Mum, stop," Ron said. "It's my body, which means it was my choice to make. And I didn't make Hermione do anything. She volunteered just like I did." Why did his mother automatically jump to the conclusion that he had coerced Hermione into this? She should have known by now that no one forces Hermione to do anything she doesn't want to.

"Mrs. Weasley, I did volunteer," Hermione spoke up, when it become clear she was going to continue to blame Ron for her part in this. "But as Ron said, it was our choice to make."

"Mum, we're seventeen, I think we're old enough – "

"Ronald, I know exactly how old you are. I'm not senile," she snapped at her son. "But you're both still so young. I think you keep forgetting that."

"Right, we just have adult jobs and adult lives," he bit off sarcastically. He avoided the threatening glare his mother was sending his way by glancing over at Lupin, hoping to get some support. But it didn't look like he was going to jump in and rescue them anytime soon. _He's just as afraid of her as I am when she's like this_, he thought to himself.

"It will only be for two weeks," Hermione tried to reason with Mrs. Weasley. "The Healers will be monitoring our conditions the entire time. The first sign of anything going wrong and we'll take them off."

"Mum, this is important," Ron added. "It could change the way Aurors defend themselves out in the field." He thought the bit about Aurors being more safe might make her a little less upset, but it didn't work. The only thing he had going for him was that he no longer lived under his mother's roof, which meant she couldn't ground him. She could do little more than lecture and yell at him like she was doing right then.

Mrs. Weasley threw her hands up in frustration then and marched out of the kitchen. They could hear her muttering, "why couldn't they get magical tattoos like normal teenagers?"

"She'll be much calmer in a few days," Lupin said to Ron. "In the meantime, I would avoid her until then though."

Ron would definitely heed to that advice.

"Sorry about your date," Hermione said to Lupin and Ron's eyes widened in shock.

Lupin was obviously distracted because he did not deny it this time. "I would be more worried about what these charms can do to you than anything else," he said and left the room.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

"So do you feel any different?" Harry asked, turning to face his running partner.

"Nah, not really," Ron replied, glancing down at the object around his neck. "I'm starting to think it doesn't work." Two days had past and he still hadn't felt any affects from the charm.

"Maybe it takes a while," Harry suggested.

Ron didn't answer. He kept on running, not saying anything until he started hearing Harry's heavy breathing beside him.

"Tired already?"

"We ran twelve miles," Harry shot back. He was definitely not out of shape, but he was beginning to feel the strain of running an extra couple miles.

Ron looked surprised. "Really? I hadn't even noticed. I'm barely sweating."

"Good for you," Harry said sarcastically and stopped running.

"What'd you stop for?"

"Because I'm heading back. We have to be at the Ministry in an hour."

He didn't know what Harry was so worried about. "We still have plenty of time."

"Maybe that charm is finally working for you, but since I don't have one I'm going back."

"Fine, I'll see you in a bit," said Ron.

He left Harry there and started running again. Harry must have been right about the charm. There was no other explanation for why he was able to run this far and barely break a sweat. After awhile he decided to make things a bit more interesting and increased his speed a little. Every few minutes he would increase it a little more. He still didn't feel tired at all – he felt great. If he had been able to do this way back when his Auror training had first started he could have been ahead of everyone in the program.

He lost track of the time, so much so that when he returned to the house Harry was already gone. Mackenzie would kill him if he was late on only his second day back, but because he wasn't reporting to normal training like everyone else, he might be able to slip into the Auror Department without being noticed.

He was still required to bring all his training gear so he quickly packed it up and changed into his Auror's robes before leaving for the Ministry. Normally, he would just apparate, but he thought he might try his luck and see how fast he could get there in a flat run. He was going to be late anyways – it was just a question of how late.

* * *

Ron only ended up being about a half hour late. If only he had been a bit faster, Mackenzie never would have known. She took him in her office, putting up a silencing charm so no one could hear her berate him for thinking he could make up his own hours. But it wasn't as if there was any worse punishment she could offer up then what he was already doing, except now she was going to make him sit the test a day early – and that was bad. He had been bored out of his mind reading yesterday, and now he would have to study twice as hard just to get through all the material she had given him. 

Ron had been so irritated about the whole thing, he hadn't realized what was going on until he was halfway through the stack of parchments on his desk. When he did, he paused to check the clock on the wall and then looked down at the remaining papers in front of him. Only ten minutes had gone by and he had already memorized and learned half the material Mackenzie had given him. That was at least twenty pages! Not even Hermione could read that fast.

He decided to try a test. He picked up what he had left to go through and scanned through it as fast as he could. He couldn't remember it as clearly as he could the previous pile, but he had a working understanding about what he had just read. If he had this ability while in Hogwarts, he could have been doing his homework on the Quidditch pitch instead of staying up until midnight or later, scrambling to get it done. If he was having this much progress, he wondered how Hermione was fairing.

It was close to lunchtime and he was starving, so he thought he would go up and pay her a visit. He wasn't sure how she would react to him just showing up at her office, but that wasn't going to stop him. They had been on rocky terms at best since he had been cleared of any wrong doing by the Magical Law Enforcement officials, and he hadn't wanted to make things worse so he had stayed away. He was also angry. After being apart for months, he thought they were both finally ready to put everything behind them, but they weren't – at least Hermione wasn't. He got the distinct feeling from her that getting back together wasn't what she wanted.

He entered the department and proceeded to walk down to where he knew her office to be, since the witch at reception wasn't around. Sure enough, she was sitting at her desk, looking thoroughly stressed out. He didn't say anything, but it wasn't long before she noticed someone standing in her doorway.

"Ron, what are you doing here?" She wished it hadn't come out sounding so harsh.

He looked unaffected by her words. "I thought I'd see how you're doing," he said, indicating to the chain around her neck.

She visibly scowled. "It's just a big waste of time. It doesn't even work."

"Really? Mine works just fine," he said, smirking. She eyed him dubiously, so he picked up a book from her desk. "Watch," he told her.

At first, he looked like he was just flipping casually through the pages, but then they quickly become a blur to her because they were moving so fast. About three quarters through, he stopped and tossed the book back on her desk. "Christ, that was boring. I think that's worse than our History of Magic text ever was.

Her eyes widened. "You read all that?"

"Most of it. Didn't understand half of it though. What the hell is cellular decay of magical properties?"

She continued to stare at him in awe. "Ron, that's amazing."

"Yeah, well, it's the charm," he said with a shrug, blushing a little.

She stared down determinedly at her books, and picked up the one she had been looking through before. She began flipping through in much the same way Ron had, but after a minute of this gave up. "It's not working," she said frustrated.

"Maybe yours is just taking a little longer," he said to her. "I didn't start noticing anything until this morning."

That didn't make her feel any better. Maybe the charm was only meant to work with someone of pure wizarding blood lineage.

"Maybe it takes some extreme physical exercise to bring it out," Ron suggested. "Nothing happened with mine until I went running this morning."

She gave it some thought. It was possible. The charm was supposed to run off the adrenaline produced by the body, so the effects would become much more noticeable during physical activity. It was also just as likely the charm wasn't compatible with her.

"Let's go down to the gym and test yours out."

She thought he was joking, but he looked completely serious. "Ron, the gym is for Aurors only. Besides, I have a lot of work to do here."

"Look, the Aurors don't have training today. And all that work you have sitting there isn't going to go away any faster. It's lunchtime anyways. I promise I'll have you back up here in an hour."

"We have that check-up at St. Mungo's remember?"

"Right. We'll finish in the gym and we'll go right over. Your boss won't even know you're gone," he finished with a grin.

She couldn't turn down his offer even if she wanted to. The combination of the chance to see the potential of her own charm as well as the roguish grin he was flashing her were two things she couldn't resist.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Hermione was sweaty and out of breath, and was seriously regretting letting Ron talk her into this to begin with. They had practiced wand dueling and dozens of other wizarding combat techniques, and she had done fairly well on all of them. But she didn't have nearly six months of Auror training behind her. She knew all the extensive training he and Harry had gone through, but it was entirely different to witness it first hand. She wasn't used to seeing Ron this confident. She knew he was slowing down his pace just so she could keep up with him. 

"You're holding back," she panted, after she blocked his last attack. Ron looked fine. He was barely sweating.

"Of course I am," he admitted. "Bloody hell, Hermione, you're not some Death Eater I'm trying to hunt down." He could see how discouraged she was getting, but he wasn't going to let her quit. "Let's try that again."

She knew she shouldn't be letting herself get angry, that it was only going to make her more frustrated, but she couldn't help it. Ron may have been holding back to keep from hurting her, but she was throwing practically every curse she knew at him and he blocked them all almost effortlessly.

He was trying to mix in close combat fighting with their wand dueling – something he had most likely learned in training. He never actually hit her, but it showed how easily he could have taken her out if he wanted to.

This time when she threw a curse at him, she didn't wait for him to block it before throwing another one. She moved to the side and ducked to avoid one of his hits. She didn't pause to figure out why he was staring at her so strangely. She moved through the opening in his defense and hit him hard in the chest.

She was sure she hadn't hit him that hard, but Ron was knocked off his feet and landed sprawled on his back.

"Ron, are you okay?" She asked, worriedly, coming to his side.

"Shit," he swore, struggling to sit up. "Where did you learn that move?"

"What move?" She said, confused. "I just hit you that was it."

He shook his head. "You were like this blur of motion. One second you were in one spot, the next you were right in front of me, knocking me onto my back."

She took that moment to sit on the floor beside him and reflect on what had just happened. She had been doing everything the same she had done since they had started, except she had felt this extra surge of energy.

When Ron got to his feet, she said, "don't hold back this time."

He looked at her like she had lost her mind. "Hermione, no. I could really hurt you – I could do worse than that."

"You won't," she said confidently.

"I know you think since you got to me once, you can do it again – "

"Ron, trust me, okay? I know what I'm doing."

Damn it she was stubborn. She didn't even allow him the chance to argue any further. She was already taking up a fighting stance and aiming her wand at him. He barely had his out in time before she started her attack.

She moved as quickly as before, and it wasn't long before he was doing exactly what he hadn't wanted to do – not holding back. He was doing it because it was the only way he could keep up with her. She was matching him move for move and not giving up any ground.

Minutes passed, and they were still going at each other relentlessly, but never causing any real damage. If anyone had been watching them they would have looked like two blurs moving from one spot to another, never stopping. Finally, they broke apart, sweating and breathing heavily.

"Wow," Hermione said in amazement.

"_Wow_? Hermione, that was bloody amazing!" Ron exclaimed. He couldn't believe it. Not only had she been able to keep up with him, but she had actually put him on the defensive several times.

"I want to go patrolling with you," she said suddenly.

That was more insane than her wanting to fight him in an all-out match. "Absolutely not," he said when the shock of what she said had worn off. "There's a big difference between trading curses in a gym and being out there dealing with Death Eaters and Merlin knows what else. It's against regulations to bring out a civilian. I'm not even supposed to be patrolling until I take that stupid test."

"It wouldn't have to be official Ministry business. "It could be for the Order."

"Hermione, no," he stated more firmly this time.

"Fine, then I guess I'll just go out on my own."

He swore inwardly. He couldn't stop her from going out on her own and she damn well knew he would never let her do that. If Harry found out what he was agreeing to he would kill him.

* * *

Ginny paused to consider one of the homework questions Lupin had given her. She chewed the tip of her quill thoughtfully. Lupin was a good teacher – almost too good in fact. She had always known he was brilliant in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but she had no idea he was so well versed in practically every other subject area. She felt a pang thinking about what a brilliant career he could have had if there weren't all those ridiculous anti-werewolf laws. But hopefully that prejudice might soon be coming to an end. 

"Dad's put into motion a new law that will overwrite the existing one on werewolf policies," she sad to the person sitting at the other end of the couch.

Harry just shrugged, keeping his attention on the television screen.

She wasn't sure if he was paying attention to the program or not. Even if there wasn't anything on, it seemed to catch his interest just to flip through all the channels.

"Remus could get a job at the Ministry then. Or I'm sure he would go back to teach at Hogwarts when it re-opens."

"Gin, if you've got something to say, just say it," Harry snapped, tearing his gaze away from the telly to look at her.

She moved her legs from where they were lying draped across his lap and sat up. "He doesn't say anything," she began slowly, "but he misses you, Harry. Can't you just talk to him?"

"I have nothing to say to him."

"Harry, he made a mistake but that was years ago. Your parents weren't even together at the time. You're punishing him for something that has nothing to do with you."

"Don't talk about things you don't understand," he said coldly, standing up.

"You are such a hypocrite," she cried, jumping to her feet. "You kissed your best friend's girlfriend," she reminded him.

"That was totally different!" Harry argued. "I didn't know she and Ron were together. Besides, it wasn't like I shagged her."

She didn't know why she was so upset. She had purposely picked a fight with him and now she just wanted to get out of there. She grabbed her bag and threw her books inside.

While she was doing that, she heard the front door open. She saw her brother and Hermione standing in the hall. Hermione didn't look surprised to see her, but Ron did.

"Where the hell have you been?" Harry asked, still angry.

"Out," Ron answered. "Not that it's any of your business."

"Were you in a fight?" Ginny asked. She could make out the faint line of a bruise on his cheekbone. When she took a closer look at Hermione, the other girl looked like she might have been caught in a scuffle a well.

"Why are you here?" Ron asked, avoiding her question.

"I was looking for Hermione. I didn't know where she was," Ginny lied smoothly.

"The Healer came to the Ministry looking for the both of you," said Harry. "You didn't show up for your scheduled appointment."

"I guess we lost track of time. It's no big deal," Ron said.

"We'll go first thing tomorrow," Hermione interjected, hoping to avoid a row. "Gin, are you going home now?" The younger girl nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said to Ron. "Good night, Harry."

When the girls were gone, Ron turned to Harry. "What are you pissed about?"

"Nothing," Harry said with a scowl and walked down the hall to his bedroom.

Ron sighed. He wished that he and Hermione hadn't shown up when Harry had been in such a foul mood. He was just lucky Harry didn't follow through on Ginny's comment about having been caught in a fight. Ginny was too damn observant for her own good. If Harry had found out where they had been, he would be a dead man.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

"It's not much, but it's all the intelligence we have at the moment," Mackenzie told them.

They were assembled in the tactical room inside the Auror department. It was an emergency meeting and anyone who had been in the field that could be recalled was there. Despite all his training and experience, Harry couldn't shake the feeling of being a bit intimidated by being surrounded by all the senior Aurors. He had met most of them before, some just in passing, but they all had that hardened look of having seen too much over the course of a lifetime. That look was shared by all present the instant Mackenzie had given her reason for calling them there.

"We don't know their reasoning for taking up shop so close to Azkaban," she continued, "but we do have a theory. Despite how isolated the prison is, because there was such a heavy concentration of Dementors there for decades, no one wanted to live less than thirty miles away from it. We think that the Death Eaters are using the abandoned wizarding village there in hopes of masking their presence because no one wants to go anywhere near there. The village has been abandoned for years, so the forest surrounding it has all but taken it back. Even an Auror passing by for a shift at Azkaban would see no reason to go in there."

"Are we going to stage an attack?" Jameson asked, one of the senior Aurors.

"Before we decide how deal with the situation, we need more information," Mackenzie informed them. "We need to know numbers and what kind of spells or illusionary charms have been set up around the perimeter. I want a four man recon team to handle this – Caven, Johnson, McMillan, and Stevens will go. Remember, this is strictly a recon mission – do not engage the enemy unless you have no other choice. Everyone else you are to continue with your original assignments. I trust I don't have to remind any of you this is a level C classified situation and none of this information is to be revealed to anyone outside this room." Mackenzie turned until her gaze fell on the grizzled-looking man near the front of the assembled group. "Mad-Eye, is there anything else you'd like to add?"

Moody shook his gruff face. It came as a surprise to many that the hardened Auror was staying silent.

"When we have an update on this situation, we'll meet again and decide how to handle it. Dismissed," she finished.

As the group dispersed, Harry saw Moody limping over to where him and Ron were standing.

"Molly, would like it if the two of you showed up for dinner tonight," he said gruffly and walked off.

He did not need to elaborate further. That was one of the many code phrases Moody had thought up for communicating there was an Order meeting when in a public area.

"It better not be another information session like it was here," said Ron with a scowl.

"If Moody was the one who discovered them, you can be sure he knows more than he's letting on. He still doesn't trust the Ministry, even with your father in charge now. Are you okay?" He noticed Ron's face was covered in sweat.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered distractedly. "It's just hot in here."

Harry frowned. The temperature of the room was fine, even with all those people in there. "Maybe you should stop by and see that Healer."

"What the hell for?"

"Because you look like hell," Harry snapped back. Come to think of it, Hermione wasn't looking all that great either. On top of that, the both of them had been acting rather strangely the last few days, and Harry was fairly sure he knew the cause of their changed behaviour.

"Look, I get enough of this shit from my mum," he said, staring down Harry. "I don't need to hear it from you too."

"Where do you and Hermione go at night?" He demanded. The two of them would disappear for hours and not return until the early hours of the morning. What was even more of a mystery was how they found the energy to get up and appear well rested for work on only a few hours sleep.

"I already told you it's none of your fucking business," said an angry Ron.

"If you're putting Hermione in danger – "

"Cut the bullshit, Harry. Hermione is a grown woman who can protect herself."

"Protect herself from what?"

"Harry, you haven't seen what she can do. She's bloody amazing – she can take on even me."

"Answer the question, Ron."

"Mackenzie still has me doing all these damn training drills almost every day. The only way I'm not gonna go soft is if I'm out there taking on those bastard Death Eaters."

Harry's eyes widened and then narrowed into dangerous slits at what Ron had just admitted to. "You've been taking her patrolling with you? Are you out of your fucking mind? She has no training or field experience and you're going after Death Eaters? I didn't think even you could be this stupid."

Ron said nothing and began walking away.

"We're not finished." Harry was furious as he went after him. He hadn't taken more than a few steps, when a blur of movement had him face down on the ground, with a boot on his back and stretching one arm behind him. It felt like his arm would pop right out of the socket if it was pulled back much further.

"Don't piss me off, Harry," Ron threatened, pulling his arm just a little tighter. Then he let go and walked away. This time Harry didn't try to stop him.

* * *

The meeting at Phoenix Headquarters had the same tense and edgy feel to it as the one that had taken place in the Ministry earlier that day. Moody seemed to be the only one unaffected by it. He reiterated Mackenzie's speech for the most part, stopping to explain the recon team that had been assembled to gather more intelligence and then continuing by giving a full account of what he had witnessed. 

"My magical eye caught movement in the trees while I was on my way to relieve the Aurors posted at Azkaban. I was able to move through the overgrowth unnoticed. I found the remains of a wizarding village which had been abandoned since shortly after Azkaban had built. The overgrowth of the forest had reclaimed most of it, but it appeared as though recent magic had been used to cut some of it back – at least enough to make it habitable. I counted six Death Eaters, but there could have been more that just weren't visible from my position."

"So there were no illusion charms of any kind?" Lupin asked.

"Nothing that I could detect," Moody said, frowning deeply. "That doesn't make sense. Even if they were using Azkaban to cloak their whereabouts, all our previous analysis of Death Eater behaviour shows they go to great lengths to remain hidden, no matter how isolated their position may be."

"A trap?" Tonks suggested.

"That seems likely," Moody agreed. "Which is why Mackenzie wants to gather as much information as we can before acting on it.

"There's still more of us than there are of them, why don't we just take them out?" Said Ron.

"Until we know more, Mackenzie was right to proceed with the recon mission. We'd be going in blind otherwise," said Moody

"So we're just going to sit around and do nothing?" Ron said.

Moody gave him a dark look. "Weasley, we never sit around and do nothing. You may not be privileged to every bit of information that goes on in the Auror department, but the Death Eaters are being handled the best way they can. If I'm not mistaken, you still haven't been cleared for active duty. So if anyone is sitting on their arse, it's you."

Harry saw the look in Ron's eyes and thought he might attack Moody right there. He still couldn't wrap his mind around Ron's attack on him in the Auror department. He had been powerless. Ron had him pinned on the ground before he could move a muscle. His strength had almost been inhuman.

"Tonks and I will continue to monitor the situation, along with Mackenzie," Moody continued after a moment. Those words seemed to signal the end of the meeting, and members of the Order began to go their own separate ways. "Weasley, Granger, stay behind a minute," Moody barked. "Potter, you can go," he said, when he saw Harry wasn't moving. His tone left no room for argument.

Harry was the last one out, so Moody pointed his wand at the dining room and kitchen doors so they would shut and then cast a silencing charm around the room. He, Tonks, and Lupin were the only adults left.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked.

"I was just going to ask you two that same question," said Moody, glaring at the two of them. "It seems you've been doing some Order work on your own." He waited for their confession, but the two remained silent. "I guess this explains those few extra Death Eater bodies that have turned up that nobody seems to know about." He walked closer to them, until they could hear the sounds of his angered breathing. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but that's not the way we handle this war. You don't go ahead and start your own private vendettas. Weasley, I have half a mind to report you. You think your life is hell now, just wait until Mackenzie finds out you're out in the field without being cleared for it. As it is, I think those godforsaken charms are having a serious effect on both your judgments. Until we feel you're no longer under its influence, you are suspended for all Order activities."

"You can't do that!" Ron shouted.

"It's already been done," Moody snapped. "You two can't be trusted. We don't know how you'll react or what you'll do with the information shared here. For the time being, you're a liability."

"I don't belive this," said Hermione, shaking her head.

"Harry should have just kept his fucking mouth shut," Ron muttered.

"This has nothing to do with Harry," Lupin spoke up. "Both of your behaviours have been erratic and unpredictable as of late. We let it go at first because we wanted to think that you were adjusting to the charms, but it hasn't stopped. When was the last time either one of you slept? You can't seem to sit still for more than a few minutes at a time. Tonight you could barely keep it together long enough to listen to Moody. You're running on extremely high dosages of adrenaline and if you're not careful, your bodies will be damaged permanently."

"I would tell you to take the charms off yourself but I think it would be better if a Healer was around when you did it," Tonks said, clearly siding with Moody and Tonks. "We don't know what the effects of taking them off will do to your bodies."

"We still have a week left!" Hermione protested.

"I don't think either one of you can afford to keep that thing on for that long," Lupin said in a stern voice. "Tomorrow, Tonks and myself will accompany you to St. Mungo's and you'll take them off."

Moody released the silencing charm, and Ron and Hermione stalked out of there, both seething with anger.

* * *

Harry hadn't waited around after Moody had all but kicked him out of Phoenix Headquarters, not wanting him to hear what they were talking to Ron and Hermione about. Even if Moody hadn't told him to leave, he doubted he would have stuck around. His friends were going to need some time to cool off when Moody was done with them – which was exactly why Lupin's place should have been the last place he went to. He wanted to see Ginny. Their friendship felt rather strained as of late and he wasn't sure why. 

When he walked in, he wished he had followed his better judgment and just stayed away from there. Ron was furiously pacing the kitchen and Hermione didn't seem any calmer. When Ron saw Harry he exploded.

"What the fuck is your problem? What kind of shit did you tell Moody about us?"

"I didn't have to tell him anything. He already noticed the way you've been acting and drew his own conclusions."

"But you went to him, didn't you?" Ron persisted.

"I had to," Harry responded. "Have you two noticed the way you've been acting? You're like a couple of addicts with those charms on, and you look like hell." He turned to Hermione, hoping to appeal to her rational and logical side. "You wouldn't be out there taking out your own personal vendetta against Death Eaters – and you certainly wouldn't be encouraging Ron to break the rules as an Auror if you were acting like yourself."

"You may not have noticed, Harry but there's a war going on out there and all we're doing is trying to help any way we can," Hermione responded.

"There may not be a prophecy written about us, but we're not your sidekicks either," said Ron.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Ron started taking a predatory step towards him, "you're not the only powerful one around here anymore."

He didn't lay a hand on Harry, but his intention rang clear. After the way Ron had so effortlessly pinned him to the floor in the Ministry, Harry wasn't so sure he could take him on and win while he was in this state.

"Let's go," Ron barked at Hermione.

They left and Harry made no attempts to stop them, knowing he would have had little chance of doing so even if he tried.

* * *

Harry didn't know how long he sat alone staring at the empty walls of the kitchen, but it was well past dark out now. The screen door squeaking open didn't even startle him. 

"Harry?" Ginny said in surprise when she saw him. "Why are you sitting in the dark?"

He wasn't in total darkness, the light over the stove was on, but he didn't feel like arguing that point with her. He took in her appearance in the poor light. "Were you on a date?"

"I went to see Colin. I haven't seen him since…"

"Since Dennis was murdered in Hogsmeade," Harry said, his tone dark. "You didn't answer my question," he said, locking his eyes on her.

"I was hanging out with a friend. Though even if it were a date, I don't know why it would bother you. It's not as if there's anything _official_ between us."

"I didn't hear you complaining about that before, Gin."

She averted her gaze to the floor, saying, "maybe I don't want this anymore."

The shock of her statement showed on Harry's face, before he quickly masked it.

"I thought I could be okay with this," she continued, forcing herself to look at him again, "but I was only fooling myself. I thought it would be enough, but it's not, Harry – at least not for me."

"Well, I'm sorry, Ginny, but I can't give you anything more."

It felt like a slap on the face to hear him say that. He didn't even have the decency to pretend that he cared. "So that's it? You can't even pretend that this is affecting you at all?"

"Look, I can't be the person you want me to be, so it's better this way. I never meant to mislead you into thinking otherwise."

"Don't worry, you didn't," she said, turning on her heel. "I always knew I was nothing more than a convenience."

She stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room, slamming the door behind her. She didn't care that _she_ was supposed to be acting like this wasn't affecting her. He made her feel stupid and humiliated. She never thought Harry capable of being such a bastard. The worst part was she was partly to blame for all of this. He had been the one to push her away, to tell her to stay away from him. His intentions had always been clear. She was just a silly girl for thinking she could change them.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

It wasn't as though Lupin was avoiding where Harry and Ron lived. He just thought it would be better for everyone if he didn't show up there more than was necessary. If he was honest with himself, he couldn't bear to have Harry look at him the way most of wizarding society did – though for a completely different reason. Without a doubt he knew Severus was the one to tell Harry about what had happened between himself and Lily. Dumbledore was the only other person who knew, and he would carry that secret to his grave. He was angry with Severus, but even more so at himself. He had never wanted Harry to find out, let alone from the person who went out of his way to make his life miserable.

Now, as he stepped out of the fireplace at Harry's, Lupin put aside any of his current misgivings because he had something much more important to deal with. Ron and Hermione had not shown at St. Mungo's and no one seemed to know where they were. While Tonks had left to assemble what members of the Order she could to start a search, he had gone to see Harry.

At the sound of someone appearing in the fireplace, Harry had come to investigate, carefully masking his surprise when he saw who it was.

"Is Ron here?" Lupin asked.

"No."

He looked dreadful to Lupin, almost as bad as Ginny had that morning. He wondered if the two were connected.

"Do you know where he is?"

"I'm not his keeper," Harry snapped.

"Harry, this is important. I need to find him and Hermione."

He could hear the anxiety in the older man's voice. "Why? What happened?"

"They were supposed to report to St. Mungo's this morning to take off those charms. No one's seen them since last night."

"Did you ask Ginny?"

Lupin shook his head. "She has her O.W.L. exams at the Ministry this morning. I didn't want to worry her."

"But you're worried?" Harry said, his own trepidation creeping in.

"Those charms are affecting them both mentally and physically. I don't think either one of them is thinking too clearly right now, especially after Moody banned them from all Order activities until they got them removed."

It now hit Harry why they both had been so angry last night. He prayed being temporarily removed from the Order wasn't enough for them to go and do something stupid.

"I'm meeting Tonks in town in twenty minutes. Hopefully she'll have some leads. Molly, doesn't know yet either, Harry," Lupin told him.

"What do you need me to do?" Harry asked, fully intending to be a part of the search.

* * *

Ginny was sure she had failed her exams. In fact, she was positive she had done so poorly that Fred and George combined would have more O.W.L.s than her. Remus was going to be so disappointed. He was spending all this time teaching her and she couldn't retain a single piece of knowledge. It wasn't that she hadn't studied hard for them, she had just been completely distracted while she was writing them. She had wanted to scream out loud. She hated how Harry was able to affect her like this. If she had known when she was ten and saw Harry Potter on the train platform for the first time, that he would end up being the best and worst part of her life, she probably would have begged her mother to let her start Hogwarts that second. The hard truth was Harry was in her system and she didn't know if she would ever be rid of him. But she would never know if she didn't try. She could be just as cold and callous as he had been to her. 

She had made this vow before but she planned on sticking to it this time – she was over the drama that was Harry Potter.

If only she had been over it before she had sat her exams she would have felt a lot better – and probably done a lot better too.

Now that they were out of the way, she was free to wonder what had been going on with Remus before she had left the house. She didn't have to be at the Ministry before ten, and when she had woken up and gone downstairs Remus looked like he had been up for hours. He had his cloak on as if he had just returned from somewhere or was on his way out. He had assured her everything was fine, even when it quite evident he was rattled about something. It was made even clearer when he said he would not come by to get her after her exams. He told her she was to go to her father and he would arrange a way for her to get home.

Ginny loved Remus, but she was sixteen and was not going to go running to her father because she couldn't handle taking the Knight Bus on her own.

Despite the cool October air, it felt good to be outside. She could go outside at Remus's all she wanted, but there was something to be said about being out in the open, knowing no one was watching her.

"Going for a stroll, Weasley? I'd be a bit more careful if I were you."

Hearing that arrogant drawl made her blood run cold. She pulled out her wand and spun around, but Malfoy already had his in his hand.

"Believe me, Weasley, you can't take me. You'd be dead before you hit the ground. You're dealing with an Auror after all."

"You mean traitor," she spat.

"I can see why your little brain would come to that conclusion," he said with a smirk.

"After what you did to my brother, I should kill you myself," she said, both startled and frightened by her bold words.

Malfoy stalked towards her. "Those are big words for a little girl, but they're misdirected. I'm not the one who tried to have your brother thrown into Azkaban."

"You tried to kill him! So are you coming after me now? Is this your way of getting back at him?"

"I always knew you Weasley's weren't that bright, but I didn't think even your lot could be this stupid. Believe me, if I wanted that _Weasel_ dead he would be. They fucked up everything."

Ginny was growing more and more confused. Even if she did believe him, why would he be telling her this?

"Speaking of the Weasel, I heard he and Granger are missing," he said casually.

Ginny's eyes widened and fixed on his cool grey ones.

"So you didn't hear? No wonder you're so calm," he noted.

"You're lying," she said instantly.

"No, not about this or anything else I've said to you. My connections far exceed your own, so if you're looking to get them back I'm all you've got."

It was all falling into place now, why Lupin had been acting distracted. Her brother and Hermione really were missing. "Where are they?" She demanded.

"Sorry, but I need someone a little higher up. Someone who's voice actually carries some weight since I want something in return. I'll only tell, Potter."

* * *

For all his training as an Auror, Harry felt utterly and completely useless. He had searched everywhere for his friends and there was not so much as a sign of them. 

The less than comforting thought that he carried with him was if they had refused to take off the necklaces, they were just as addicted to them as he had predicted.

Moody had taken a squad of Aurors to investigate the Death Eater camp that had been set up under the shadows of Azkaban. If there was one place they would go it would be there, even more so now that Moody had put a temporary ban on their Order status.

Moody had rejected Harry's appeal to go with them. Moody had told him they needed someone with a clear head. Harry had yelled and protested and in the end still got left behind.

Now he was alone in the pub, thinking about the last time he had spoken with Ron. _There may not be a prophecy written about us, but we're not your sidekicks either_. After all their years as friends, did they both think he regarded them as nothing more than that? Was he that horrible a friend? He most certainly wasn't the greatest friend. He had put their lives in danger more times then he could count. And when he wasn't plunging them head first into danger, he was pushing them away from himself. Ron had volunteered to wear the charm because he wanted to prove that he was stronger – that he was powerful. Harry wondered when their friendship had gotten to this point – that Ron felt inferior and would do anything to prove that he was the more powerful wizard.

Then there was Hermione. He couldn't help but feel these last few months she was changing into this completely different person. She was knee deep into magic all the time. He knew that was her job, but she seemed to be finding excuses to use it for everything. If he was honest with himself, his worry for her had started back when they had performed the sacrificial spell on Ron. It seemed that like she thought if she could handle powerful, ancient magic like that, she could handle anything.

"Is this the pity table or can anyone sit here?" A feminine voice asked.

Harry's head shot up, thinking the voice belonged to Ginny, remembering she had said almost the exact same phrase to him at the Ministry ball. But that was just wishful thinking. After the other night, he doubted she would want anything to do with him. It was better this way – better that she hate him now so she could move on and find someone who could commit to her the way she deserved. He couldn't be that person for her, he wasn't even sure he knew how.

"Can I join you?" The same feminine voice asked.

Harry indicated to the empty seat across from him.

Harry had had seen the brunette in there a few times and even talked to her on several occasions when Ron had been with him. He tried to avoid one-on-one interactions with the opposite sex, because most of them only seemed to be interested in one thing. She wasn't pathetic as many of them tended to be, but her intentions were easy to read.

"Where's your friend?" She asked interestedly.

He shrugged. "Don't know," he answered calmly.

"It's just that you don't normally come in here alone."

"Is there a reason you're here?" He asked bluntly. He wasn't in the mood for games. Frankly, he wasn't in the mood for much of anything.

She didn't look insulted, in fact she actually smiled.

"I have somewhere I need to be," he said and stood up.

"Right this minute?" She said suggestively.

Any thoughts Harry had of being elsewhere vanished at that moment.

* * *

When Harry walked out of the men's loo twenty minutes later, Julie was right in front of him adjusting her hair and skirt. He was proud of the fact he had at least managed to get her first name. 

Harry was trying in vain to flatten his wild hair, when she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss before walking away with a grin plastered on her face. Before his own grin could spread, his mind was attacked with raw and emotional pain. He grabbed his stomach, feeling so sick he thought he would throw up. He searched the pub around him, looking for the source when his gaze landed on Ginny. Her face was an impassive mask but he could feel the hurt and anguish recoiling off her as clearly as if it were his own.

"I've found a way to find Ron and Hermione," she told him, her voice devoid of emotion. Then she walked away.

He assumed she meant for him to follow, otherwise she wouldn't have shown up there. He didn't say a word to her as they exited the noisy pub, but when they were outside he couldn't remain quiet any longer. "What did you find out?" If Lupin hadn't told her Ron and Hermione were missing how had she did she even know what was going on?

"Not much really. I told her I would only talk to you."

Harry's wand was drawn the moment he heard the voice speak. His lips curled into a snarl as he took in the sight of Draco Malfoy leaning casually against the pub wall, wand nowhere in sight.

"You son of a bitch," Harry spat and charged towards him. He let the tip of his wand rest against Malfoy's chest.

"Harry, stop!" Ginny cried.

"Ginny, get out of here!" He shouted at her.

"If you want to help your friends you'd best calm that temper of yours," Malfoy said to him.

"Like I'm going to believe a single word – "

"Harry, hear him out," said Ginny.

"Maybe he's not interested in rescuing his friends. But I always thought Potter liked playing the hero," Malfoy sneered.

Harry held his temper in check – just barely. He lowered his wand and looked expectantly at the Slytherin to continue.

"You really do like playing the hero."

"Just tell us what you know," Harry growled.

"Granger and Weasley will be going to check out that Death Eater camp on the mainland near Azkaban."

"This is a waste of time," Harry snapped, his temper short. "We already figured that out. There's people going there now to get them."

"What you don't know, is it's just a front," Malfoy continued, undeterred. "There's nothing there. They're using those charms Granger and Weasley are wearing as a way of luring them there. They knew it would be next to impossible to get their hands on you, Potter, so they went for the next best thing."

"Why are you telling us this, especially after what you did to Ron?" Harry found it extremely unlikely that Malfoy would ever be this co-operative.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Like little Weasley over there, you've got it all wrong. I never had anything to do with that."

"What the hell are you playing at? Ron saw you – "

"Christ, Potter, did you sleep through Snape's lessons on Polyjuice potion?" Malfoy was growing impatient with their narrow mindedness.

Harry knew a great deal about the Polyjuice potion, probably more than Malfoy did, but he would never reveal that to the Slytherin. "Someone was impersonating you? Why?"

"Uh-uh, I want something in return before I tell you anything else. I want full immunity."

Harry almost laughed at the ludicrous request. "You're out of your fucking mind. I'm not going to give you that – not even if I could."

"Hey, I risked my life coming to you. If any Death Eater's see me I'm as good as dead because I wouldn't play by their rules."

"What rules?"

"I want your word that you and that band of misfits of yours will protect me."

Harry waved a dismissive hand. "Fine. What else do you know?" He didn't care if he didn't have the authority to grant Malfoy's request, finding his friends was his top priority.

"Since you escaped from Death Eater custody, they decided to go about things a different way. If they couldn't get at you directly, they would destroy you and your friends in the next best way. The return of the Dementors at Azkaban was designed for you, Potter. It's common knowledge how badly you're affected by them. We knew if they returned once, the Aurors would keep people posted there. It was designed to keep you distracted. It worked for a while, until it got so bad they pulled you off Azkabban duty. While that was going on, there was already one of You-Know-Who's followers deep inside the Ministry. He made it into the Ministry through the planned murder of four Ministry officials last February. It was all over the _Daily Prophet_."

Harry remembered it vaguely, but how could a follower of Voldemort have penetrated the ministry so easily?

"How do you think Granger ended up with a job like that? No one at the Ministry would hire someone at her age with no experience. The operative overheard Weasley talking with his father that he wanted to get Granger a job there so she wouldn't join the Auror program. Later on, he approached Weasley's father and the interview was set up. See, Granger is too bloody smart for her own good and he used that. All this time she thinks she's been helping the Ministry, he's been leaking information back to his superiors about new magics and the like."

Harry felt his bloodrun cold as he realized who the traitor inside the Ministry was. "Jack Anderson is a Death Eater?"

Malfoy nodded. "He knew of our _differences_ and was going to use that to send Weasley away to Azkaban. He gave another Death Eater the Polyjuice potion to look like me, but it looks like Weasley was a lot smarter than he gave him credit for. When they couldn't kill Weasley they tried to pin him for murder. They weren't counting on me dropping the charges, and I made sure Moore disappeared permanently. Look, I don't give a shit about Weasley but I don't want my life controlled by You-Know-Who or his followers. Now that my father's dead, I have no reason to continue with them.

There was still one more thing nagging at Harry. "Why did you join the Auror program?"

Malfoy sighed. "The Dark Lord wanted someone to keep an eye on you while you were at the Ministry. My mother still has a lot of power so she was able to persuade certain officials to let me into the program," Malfoy explained. "Look, I've cooperated, so you give me what I asked for."

"If we find Ron and Hermione in time, I'll consider it," Harry said, turning away. He walked out of the alley, taking Ginny with him.

Malfoy didn't follow, but that didn't make Harry feel any more at ease. He found it difficult if not impossible to believe that Mafloy suddenly had a complete change of heart. He was going to find out what he was really after.

Ginny couldn't apparate so they had to catch a port key back to Lupin's. Neither one of them talked the entire way there. They had barely made it onto the front step before the screen door swung open and Tonks appeared.

"They found Ron," she told them.

"What abut Hermione?" Ginny asked.

Tonks sadly shook her head.

That was when Harry stepped forward and told the Auror everything Malfoy had said.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

When Ron came to, he immediately regretted not staying unconscious. His head was pounding and his skin felt hot and clammy. His vision was hazy at first, and that was why he had mistaken the look on Harry's face for one of genuine concern, instead of extreme fury.

"You fucking idiot," Harry snarled, looming over him.

"Harry, that's enough," Tonks said gently and pushed him back to give Ron some breathing room.

Ron recognized his surroundings as a St. Mungo's hospital room before it hit him. "Hermione? Where is she?"

"We don't know," Lupin answered, fielding the question.

"We were hoping you might know something," Tonks added.

Ron fought to think over the throbbing in his head. "We were heading for the abandoned village near Azkaban," he started slowly. "I don't remember much except telling Hermione I was feeling sick, like my whole body was just shutting down, and then I passed out."

"Are you sure that's all you remember?" Harry pressed.

"Do you think I would leave anything out if I thought it could help us find Hermione?"

"The Aurors have already searched the village and found no sign of her," Tonks interrupted the boys. "There was evidence to suggest that someone had been hiding out there for some time."

"So what happens now?" Ginny asked.

"The Aurors are already expanding their search around the abandoned village. If there were Death Eaters waiting for you they may be taking temporary cover somewhere. Of course, we also have to consider the possibility that they apparated out of there with Hermione," Tonks finished with a sigh.

"How come they left Ron?" Harry asked.

"If Ron lost consciousness before they reached the village and Hermione proceeded on her own, they may have thought she was alone and not gone searching for him," Tonks told him.

Harry had heard enough. No Death Eater would be stupid enough to hang around in what had been an obvious trap from the start and a place that the Aurors could get to quickly. No, they would be long gone by now and there might be only one person who knew where they would take her.

He tore from the room, ignoring the questioning shouts he got from Lupin and Tonks. He had barely gone more than a few angry steps when Tonks and Lupin apparated in front of him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tonks demanded.

That should have been obvious. "I'm going to find the bastard who knows where she is!"

"After the information you gave us, we informed Mackenzie and she has Jack Anderson under close observation. But other than Draco Malfoy's word we have no evidence connecting him to Death Eater activity," Tonks informed him.

Harry raked his fingers through his hair in a gesture of hopelessness. "Why would she leave Ron like that? What was she thinking?"

"Harry, she wasn't thinking clearly. The charm is affecting her judgment, and if Ron's stopped working then there's a good chance the same has happened with hers," Lupin said.

That meant she could be in as rough shape as Ron, maybe worse. Add to that she was in the hands of Death Eaters and Harry wasn't sure there could be a good outcome from this. Tonks and Remus could talk until they were blue in the face, but he wasn't going to let them stop him from finding her. He would not let Hermione go through the same tortures he had as a Death Eater prisoner.

He pushed his way past the two of them, ignoring their pleas for him to stay and think this through rationally.

While Harry was charging out of St. Mungo's, his choice of destination already in mind, he had no idea that someone had overheard the entire conversation and planned on beating him to the Ministry.

* * *

When Harry arrived at the Department of Experimental Charms, he saw the witch at reception, talking off the ear of the security wizard who had come to investigate an unauthorized entry. 

"He came in here demanding to see Jack Anderson, and when I told him he wasn't here he went tearing through his office. I don't think he's all there. He looks like he's got some sort of illness," the witch explained.

"I'll take it from here," Harry said, flashing his Auror badge.

"It's about time the Aurors showed up," the witch huffed.

Harry ignored her continued ramblings as the security wizard took her statement.

It wasn't difficult for him figure out which office was Anderson's. It looked like every inch of it had been pulled apart. He found Ron leaning heavily against a metal cabinet.

"He's not here," he said, his voice hoarse.

"Ron, what the hell are you doing here? You don't even look like you should be standing."

"Why didn't you tell me about Anderson?" He demanded.

"I only just found out," Harry told him, knowing if he was going to calm down Ron he was going to have to calm down himself first.

"We have to find her, Harry," he said, his voice hoarse.

"We will," he stated with confidence he didn't quite feel. "Moody has everyone he can spare out looking for her."

"It's not good enough!" Ron shouted. "If the Death Eaters have her, that means she's been in their custody for hours. Do you know what they'll do to her, Harry?" He tried to block the onslaught of mental images filling his head.

"We'll go back to Malfoy – get him to tell us everything he knows."

"I won't trust a word that comes out of that bastard's mouth."

"He told us the truth about Anderson," Harry pointed out. "He knows how important Hermione is to us and if he wants any chance of the Order protecting him he'll tell us what we need to know." He couldn't tell if Ron believed him or not, but Harry had to get him out of there and back to St. Mungo's. "Ron, we need to get out of here." He didn't know if other Aurors were on their way. It would just mean more trouble if he couldn't get Ron out of there before that happened.

"I'm not going back to the hospital," he said to Harry. "I'm not going back there until I know Hermione's safe."

Harry didn't want to have to do this but it was for Ron's own good. He pulled out his wand and aimed it at Ron.

Ron's eyes widened in betrayal. "You fuck – "

The stunning spell hit him hit Ron in the chest and sent him sprawling to the floor. Harry bent over his friend to check his vitals and was glad to hear Ron's steady breathing. Armed with the knowledge that he would be facing an extremely pissed off Ron when he woke up, he went to tell the witch at reception to get a team from St. Mungo's there right away.

* * *

Ginny watched as Harry continued to pace back and fourth in the hospital waiting room area. It was beginning to make her dizzy. She needed to find something else to focus on. 

"They've been in there forever," he said, annoyed. "What's taking so long?"

"It's only been twenty minutes," she told him.

He glared at her for a moment and then resumed his pacing.

"Harry, stop. You're going to wear a hole in the floor."

She expected another glare thrown her way but the door opened to one of the Healer offices and Tonks, Moody and Lupin filed out.

"What did he tell you?" Harry demanded to know. If Malfoy was leading them on some wild Hippogriff chase he was going to be sorry.

"We got more vague accounts than we did solid leads out of him, but we'll check them all out," Tonks said to him.

"So where do we start?" Harry said, anxious to begin.

"_We_ don't start anywhere," Tonks corrected. "You're going back to Remus's with Ginny. Molly and Arthur will stay with Ron. When we have news we'll come for you."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Harry exploded. He had already been running on edge when they had left him out of interrogating Malfoy.

"This is no joke, Potter," Moody said in a sharp voice. "You're going to be an Auror so get used to following orders. You're too emotionally involved to think clearly."

"Of course I'm emotionally involved! She's my best friend. She's – " He stopped, knowing his protests would be lost on Moody. He didn't understand things like humanity and compassion. His only hope was Lupin.

"I'm sorry, Harry," said Remus, his voice low. "I agree with Alastor."

Harry was livid. This was part of what being an Auror was all about and they were purposely keeping him out of it.

"Harry, this is an order from a senior Auror," Tonks said, her voice the strictest anyone had ever heard it. "As an order, I expect you to follow it. Don't make me write you up for disobeying a superior."

_This is bullshit_, Harry fumed. How could they expect him to just sit around and do nothing?

"Bill is taking Malfoy to one of the safe houses the Aurors used to use. We'll keep him there until we figure out what to do with him," Tonks explained.

"Let's go. We'll pick up Mundungus and Shacklebolt on the way," Moody said.

While Moody and Lupin were walking away, Tonks pulled Ginny aside and said, "watch out for him. Make sure he doesn't do anything _Harry-like_."

Then the Auror hurried her footsteps to catch up with Moody and Lupin, leaving the two teens in the empty hallway.

"This is bullshit!" Harry exclaimed, letting Lupin's front door slam shut. "I don't know what the hell they're thinking. There's a shortage of Aurors. Moody should be taking all the help he can get. Instead he's telling me to sit here and wait."

"I don't need a babysitter, Harry," Ginny said sharply, her temper short as well after listening to him rant and rave about being left out of the search.

"That's not what I meant," he said, flopping down onto the couch.

"Moody, Tonks, Remus – they all care about Hermione. Do you really think they would go to any less lengths than you would?" She questioned and he turned to look in the other direction. "Harry, they'll do whatever it takes to find her."

He was still refusing to look at her, or even acknowledge any of the things she said. Frustrated, she decided to change the subject altogether. "Look, it's late. Why don't you spend the night in Ron's old room? Remus turned it into a guest room, so the bed's already made."

"I'm not tired," he said stubbornly.

"No, you exhausted and stressed out with worry."

"I already told you I'm fine. I'm not sleeping until I know Hermione's all right."

Taking matters into her own hands, Ginny pushed him back on the couch until he was flat on his back. "Tonks warned me you'd be like this," she said, hovering over him, to keep him lying down.

"Oh? And what did she say about me?"

"She said you'd be difficult, and I should have told her you're difficult most of the time."

Now Harry wasn't saying anything and she realized the current position they were in, with her straddling Harry's waist and his intense emerald gaze fixed on her.

"I'm hungry," she abruptly announced and started to move off him. "Do you want something –"

Harry cut off her words by pressing his lips to hers and grabbing her waist to hold her in place.

She resisted at first. There was a reason why she had ended whatever it was that had been going on between her and Harry. She knew that he cared for her, but deep down she also knew he would never be able to commit to anything. Just a few short hours ago she had been so angry with Harry that never laying eyes on him again would have been too soon for her. And here she was letting him screw around with her head again. Why did she have to be so weak? But she seemed to forget all those valid reasons as Harry pulled her down on top of him.

She felt his hands move around to the front of her jumper and helped him pull it off. His shirt joined it on the floor shortly after. This was already well-explored territory between them, even though she knew she should stop this before it all spiraled out of control – should have stopped it before it had started. The problem was she lost all sense of logic and reason as Harry unclasped her bra and slid the straps off her shoulders.

* * *

When Ginny awoke, she was alone on the couch with a blanket covering her. She dressed quietly and headed upstairs. 

She didn't expect to find Harry so easily. In fact she had not even been sure he would still be there. But he was sitting in the window seat of the spare bedroom looking outside. She stood in the doorway for a time watching him, until he finally noticed her.

He didn't say anything at first, just stared at her for a bit before turning back to the window. "I'm sorry," he breathed, letting his head hang a bit.

The apology hit Ginny in the chest like a stunning spell. It wasn't what someone who had just lost their virginity wanted to hear. But the logical part of her mind told her she knew this would happen. One shag wouldn't fix things between her and Harry.

"It's okay, Harry," she said her voice soft.

His head snapped up, surprised by her words.

"You were worried about Hermione and so was I," she continued. "I'm not expecting anything from you." In truth, she wasn't. She knew that Harry would never be able to commit to her. It hurt to accept, but it was less painful than setting herself up with false hope. She refused to do that anymore.

Harry shifted in his seat, so for that brief second he wouldn't have to look at her, so it wouldn't make him feel like any more of a bastard than he already did.

Ginny left the room then and headed for the loo to shower. When she emerged back into the hall twenty minutes later, Harry was still where she had left him. She was starting to wonder if there might be something else wrong with him.

Still having some reservations, she joined him on the window seat. It was a somewhat tight fit for two people and her leg brushed up against his but he showed no reaction.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong?"

He didn't answer, nor would he even look at her.

Instead of pressing him further, which rarely ever worked with Harry, she reached up and ran a hand through his tousled hair, not realizing what she was doing until it was already happening. She let her hand drop. Harry didn't protest the contact.

"I keep thinking about how mad I was at Ron and Hermione for the very same thing that happened last night," he said to her.

Ginny listened attentively, knowing how rare it was for Harry to be this open.

"After the Auror exam, Hermione met us in the Atrium and we went into the Ministry wizarding city. You already know what happened, but when I was back here and found out they had spent the night together I resented them for it."

She didn't know what to say to his admission, so she stayed silent. Then she felt Harry's hand seek out hers and give it a brief squeeze.

"What is this?" He asked, his eyes searching hers.

"I don't know," she responded, "but it has to stop." She pulled her hand out from under his. "Harry, I can't wait for you forever, and I don't think you want this either."

"Then why does this feel so comfortable?" He knew it wasn't fair to her going down this road again. The best thing he could do for both of them was to leave her alone, but there was something about Ginny that he couldn't get over her enough to really move on.

"You can use the shower now," she said, standing up. She left, not sure what else to do about their situation at the moment.

* * *

Harry walked out of the loo, not feeling any better than when he had gone in there. He reached the top of the stairs hearing another voice aside from Ginny's. He hurried downstairs, recognizing the other voice instantly and hoped he had brought good news. 

Bill was leaning against the kitchen counter while Ginny sat at the table, her face content but serious. When Harry showed up in the doorway, she smiled at him but it was guarded.

"They found Hermione. She's at St. Mungo's," she told him.

Harry wanted to be relieved, but the serious look on Bill's face wouldn't allow that. "Is she all right?" He asked Ginny's brother.

"That damn charm stopped working so she was basically in the same state as Ron when they brought her in. The Healers ran all the same tests on her but they found a lot of erratic brain patterns."

"What do you mean?"

"They said it's consistent with someone who has overused highly potent levels of magic, including wandless magic, which shouldn't even be possible." Now Harry looked as worried as his sister, so Bill said, "she's in stable condition, so you can both see her. Remus has already spoken with her dad and they're sending someone to bring him in. Gin, why don't you go pack up some of Hermione's things and then we'll go?"

Ginny nodded wordlessly and left the kitchen.

Bill turned a steely look on Harry when she was gone. "Do you want to tell me what the hell happened here last night?"

Harry swallowed. There was no way Ginny would have told him, but he had probably seen the mess in the living room when he walked in. "I don't know what you're talking about," Harry replied, probably a little too slowly.

Bill looked more furious than when Percy had showed up at The Burrow for Christmas last year. "I told Tonks it was a bad idea sending the two of you here alone."

"She's not your baby sister anymore," said Harry, not backing down. He wasn't going to let Bill intimidate him.

"No, she's sixteen and your seventeen and you two are screwing around when you both have no idea what you want. I think my sister would be a lot happier if you could keep your hormones in check and stay the hell away from her."

Bill didn't have to tell him what he already knew. But knowing that didn't make it any easier for Harry to accept.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

This time when Ron regained consciousness at St. Mungo's, it wasn't the livid face of his best friend glaring down on him, it was his sister.

"It's about bloody time. I didn't think even you could sleep this much," she said to him.

"Bugger off, Gin," he grumbled, propping himself up against the pillows so he was half sitting up in the bed.

"You're still a prat when you wake up, no matter how much sleep you've had."

Rather than continue with their normal sibling bickering, Ron said, "how long was I out for?"

"You were really delirious the first couple of days. The Healers had to use magical restraints to keep you from hurting yourself."

Ron could only stare at his sister. He didn't remember any of that. The last memory he had was of Harry hitting him with the stunning spell in the Ministry.

"You were in and out of consciousness for over a week," his sister told him. "Whatever was in that charm really messed you up."

"What about Hermione? Did they find her?" He felt guilty for not asking about her first.

Ginny nodded. "It doesn't make any sense really. Whoever had her just left her in a street in Diagon Alley. That's where the Aurors found her. She regained consciousness a few days ago."

His relief was short lived when he realized Ginny was hiding something. "What aren't you telling me?" He demanded.

"Hermione was a lot worse off than you. I don't understand all of it but the Healers are saying her brain chemistry is all off. I don't know what that means."

"But she's all right now?" He pressed.

"Ron, you should talk to her."

"Ginny, I'm talking to _you_, so why don't you just tell me what the hell is wrong with her?"

He looked a wreck, so she took pity on him. "Whatever Hermione was doing it was some pretty powerful magic – and we all knew it. At Remus's with the wandless magic, using that charm on Harry to make him feel better after Azkaban and about a million other things. Ron, it's not your fault," she said, interpreting the guilty look on his face. "We all realized what was going on, we just never paid enough attention."

"Can I see her?"

"Maybe in a bit," she told him. "I walked by her room before I came in here and her dad was in there.'

"That bad?" He could picture Mr. Granger's reaction when he found out yet another dangerous thing his daughter had been exposed to.

Ginny nodded. "Remus was in there too and it sounded like that time when mum grounded Fred and George for blowing up the broom shed." At the time, even though her mother's fury hadn't been directed at her, just hearing the way she told off the twins made Ginny never want to disobey another word she said. She had been eight at the time. Thinking about it now made her laugh because it had taken the twins about a week to get over their mother's incessant screaming before they were moving in to far more troublesome projects. Her joy ended when she felt the splitting pain in her head start.

"Gin?" Ron said, his voice filled with concern.

"I just got a headache," she said, wincing slightly. "I'll be all right. I'm just going to get some air." She knew leaving so suddenly would make her brother worry, but she needed to sit down, and Ron was already worried enough about Hermione without her having to add to his problems.

She felt a little better when she got out into the hallway, but it was one of the worst headaches she had ever experienced. She found a chair to sit on, knowing she just needed to sit down for a while and not move and she would be all right.

* * *

"Every time I come here it's always the same damn thing," said Mr. Granger, absolutely furious. "You're always in some kind of trouble or danger. I didn't think anything could be worse than the last visit when I found out you could have gone to jail, but now I find you're some kind of magic addict. Of all the things in your world, drugs were the last things I thought I'd have to worry about." 

"Dad, I'm not on drugs," Hermione insisted.

"Mr. Granger, what's going on with your daughter is a bit more complicated than that," Lupin intervened.

"Mr. Lupin, while I appreciate everything you've done for my daughter, you are the last person I want to be hearing from right now. She was living under your roof this entire time and you had no idea what was going on."

"This is not Remus's fault," Hermione cried, adding to the already throbbing pain inside her head.

Her father ignored her. "Obviously, the lack of any sort of stable adult figure in her life may have been a contributing factor."

Hermione didn't know how Remus could stand there and look so calm. Ever since Tonks had accidentally let it slip to her father about his lycanthropy, he had been incredibly cold, and for lack of a better word, prejudice towards Remus.

"I'm going back to the hotel," Mr. Granger announced. "I only have a few days vacation left, and since I know I can't force you to come back with me, I guess I'll be leaving at the end of the week."

Her father marched out of the room without another word.

Hermione looked at Remus, feeling the need to apologize for her father's behaviour. "Remus – "

"Don't apologize for him, Hermione," Lupin cut in. "Your father has every right to be angry."

She was taken aback by the harshness in his voice. She had never seen him angry like this.

"You put yourself in danger without even considering what the repercussions might be. I'm not just talking about the artifact charm either. You've been recklessly using untested spells on yourself and others, but I suppose I wasn't paying close enough attention. I had no idea you had become so dependent on magic for everything. You forgot the most basic rule of magic that all first years are taught – magic isn't a tool to do your bidding with, nor is it a crutch to be used at your will. Your use of magic is out of control and it needs to stop. And I think the only way for that to happen is for you to stop using magic altogether."

Hermione stared at him in complete disbelief; sure she had heard him wrong. What did he expect her to do if she couldn't use magic?

"That look on your face is exactly why you need to stop. Hermione, I've seen witches and wizards who have got so caught up in magic that it consumes them. You're a bright girl, and the most intelligent student I've ever taught – I don't want to see you lose all that."

She chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. She caught herself mulling over in her head everything she wouldn't be able to do, and realized how right he was. How was it she had come to rely on magic so much without noticing it herself?

"I never said you had to go through any of it alone," he added a moment later. "I'll help you as much as I can, but most of it will be on your own."

She swallowed, already imaging what it was going to be like. But it wasn't as if she had ever backed down from a challenge before, and she wasn't about to start now.

A flash of movement in the doorway caught her eye, and she saw Harry standing there, brushing snow off his Auror cloak. Even without his empath abilities, he would have picked up on the tension in the room.

"Should I come back?" He said uncertainly.

"No, I was leaving now anyways," Lupin started, "I'll come back later," he said to Hermione and then walked out of the room.

"Is everything all right?" Harry asked her, taking a seat in one of the two chairs in the room.

"Funny you should ask that," she said, picking at the hospital blanket on her bed. "With the Department of Mysteries having locked down my department, I'm officially unemployed. I doubt they're in a hurry to release anything and with the entire Experimental Charms area under investigation it could be months before it's reopened. And Remus told me I have to stop using magic which means I'm effectively useless," she said, looking up at him.

"Hermione, you could never be useless," he said in quick response to the accusation on her self. "But I agree with Lupin on the magic part. I don't want to see my best friend destroy herself," he said, looking at her through his glasses.

"What about Jack Anderson?" She asked, changing the subject.

"The Aurors have him in custody. Mackenzie's been interrogating him. If they've found anything, no one's said anything yet. Once they get everything they can from him, he'll be given a proper trial and then sentenced to Azkaban. He'll never get out, Hermione."

"That doesn't make me feel any less of a fool," she said bitterly. "I worked with him every day for the last six months and I was clueless. Every project I was working on, he was secretly feeding information to Voldemort. So now we have to start all over."

"Hermione, there were forty other people in your department, not to mention the entire Ministry of Magic was fooled," Harry was quick to remind her. She didn't seem to hear him, she was looking at something passed his shoulder.

Ron was standing there, wrapped in a white hospital robe. He looked a lot steadier now than the last time Harry had seen him on his feet.

Ron wasn't sure what to do with himself. He wanted to go to Hermione and show her how relieved he was that she was okay, and even though Harry was in the room that wasn't what was stopping him. He settled for holding her hand instead.

Harry cleared his throat and stood up.

Hermione saw what he was doing. "Harry, you don't have to leave."

"Yeah, mate, why don't you stay?" Ron added.

"It's okay. I think I'll grab something to eat. You want anything?"

"Don't say the word food around me," Ron groaned, his nausea returning.

Hermione similarly shook her head, looking a little green in the face. She had barely been able to keep anything down for days.

Feeling more than a little awkward, and the fact that his friends still hadn't said a word to each other, Harry excused himself from the room. He made sure to close the door behind him.

When he was out in the hall, he spotted Ginny sitting outside the room, holding her head in her hands.

"Ginny, what's wrong?" He could feel she was in pain.

"My head hurts," she moaned.

His hand accidentally brushed against the side of her arm and she groaned out loud.

Harry had seen enough. "I'm getting a Healer."

"No," she protested. "I just need to lie down for a bit."

Harry didn't quite believe her, but knowing arguing would be pointless, offered to take her home. She agreed but kept a certain distance between herself and Harry at all times.

When they finally made it to Remus's, she vaguely heard Harry say he would stay downstairs. But by that point she was already so close to passing out, she forget about Harry and everything else the instant her head hit the pillow.

* * *

Hermione had known all along it was going to be hard to give up magic, even if it was just temporary. She just hadn't realized _how_ hard until she was physically packing up all the magical books in her room. There were dozens of spell books that made up her own private collection, not to mention all her Hogwarts texts that she had accumulated since first year. With each book she felt like she was packing a little of herself away as well. There was one book she had yet to touch since beginning the raid of her room. She had been secretly hoping it would disappear on its own, because she wasn't sure she had the will power to pack it away. 

Ginny, who was packing up a large box filled with a variety of spell ingredients, looked over at her friend and could see her reluctance. "Remus said everything," she reminded her.

"I know," Hermione said, feeling snappish and immediately regretting it. She shouldn't be taking this out on Ginny. It wasn't her fault her use of magic had gotten out of control. She had nobody to blame but herself.

"Are you sure you didn't rob the Hogwarts library?" Harry asked, coming back into the room after taking another load of her books up to the attic.

Ginny poked him in the ribs and shot him a dirty look. She expected to scold Ron for being an insensitive git, but most of the time Harry was a lot more sensitive than other guys.

In one swift motion, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to do it, Hermione picked up _Hogwarts, a History_ off her nightstand and dropped it inside the open box on the floor.

"I'll take this one up," Harry said, moving to her side.

She nodded and began packing up another box.

Turning around, Harry almost bowled Ginny over with the box in his hand. He muttered an apology and went to go around her, but she moved to the same side. When the same thing happened a second time, Harry rectified the problem by placing a hand on her waist and moving her to the side. His hand lingered afterwards and she felt her face flush. When he let go, her eyes followed him out of the room. When she turned back around, Hermione was watching her.

"You two certainly seem, um – " Hermione wracked her brain for the right word.

"Strange?" Ginny supplied.

"I was going to go with _odd_," said Hermione.

_Odd_ sat perfectly with Ginny, who resumed her task of packing away the ingredient measurement kit in Hermione's desk. Hermione didn't seem like she was going to push the subject, and Ginny desperately needing to confide in someone, blurted out, "we shagged."

That seemed to break Hermione out of the funk she'd been in since they started packing up her room. "When? How come you didn't say anything before now?" Hermione questioned her, wanting to know all the details.

"I didn't say anything because you kind of had had a lot going on," Ginny told the older girl.

"I haven't been a very good friend, have I? I don't even know what's going on with you and Harry," she admitted.

"No, you haven't," Ginny said, her tone teasing. "Harry and I ended whatever it was that we were doing and then last week when we were both here it just sort of happened."

"So what was it like?"

Ginny was grateful to finally have another person to share her experience with and who would understand completely. "It was all right I suppose. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting it to be. I mean, it got better after awhile."

"It gets even better," Hermione said to her.

Ginny screwed up her face. "I really didn't need to know that."

Hermione laughed. "You better get used to it. Because all the points of reference I have come from your brother."

Ginny didn't know how anyone could allow her brother to do things like that to them, but she didn't say that to Hermione. "We haven't really talked much since it happened. He needs to figure out what he wants – we both do. But I told him I wouldn't wait forever. I've wasted enough time waiting for Harry Potter."

"Good for you, Ginny," Hermione said in approval. "After what I just saw, maybe that was just the kick in the arse Harry needed."

Ginny gaped openly at her. "It's scary that you're starting to sound like Ron."

"I suppose it's kind of hard not to after knowing him for so long."

"What's going on with you and my brother anyways?" Ginny hoped she wasn't being too nosy.

"We're like you and Harry," she said, closing the last box on her bed. "We have some things we need to figure out."

"It sounds like Lupin and Ron are finished downstairs," Harry said, walking back into the room.

"Let's go down and check it out," Ginny said. "Harry, would you take these last two boxes to the attic?"

He nodded and Ginny started to leave with Hermione, when a hand yanked her back into the room and closed the door, pinning her against it.

"What are you doing?" Ginny hissed. "Hermione saw that! She's going to want to know what's going on."

Though Harry knew that was undoubtedly true, he wasn't concerned about that at the moment. "We need to talk."

The one thing Ginny had neglected to mention to Hermione, mainly because she didn't understand it herself, were the sensations she would feel whenever Harry was around her. Sometimes it hurt and sometimes it was wonderful. Like right then, when Harry had one hand resting on her hip and she felt her face starting to flush. He abruptly moved his hand away and she felt the loss of contact immediately. Harry took a step back from, looking as though he was trying to remember what he wanted to say.

He cleared his throat. "Gin, I know I was a big prat after it – you know, we – " He stammered. He cleared his throat and started over. "What I'm trying to say is things are different now."

"Because we shagged?" She said incredulously. "Honestly, Harry, you've going to have to do a lot better than that."

He stared openly at her, not understanding what she was getting at.

"Saying things are different doesn't change anything. If you're serious about _this_ then prove it."

_How am I supposed to prove it?_

"Harry, if you can't figure that out. I'm not going to tell you."

Harry gave her a bewildered look. "I didn't say anything."

"Yes, you did, just now." She wasn't crazy. She had heard him say those words. She came to the startlingly realization Harry had indeed spoke those words, he just hadn't said them out loud. What was going on here?

Harry was now fixing her with a funny look and she thought it best to get out of there while she could, before he could start asking questions. Questions that she had no idea how to answer.

* * *

"Remus, you didn't have to do this," Hermione said, staring at the bare shelves in the small library. 

"If you're packing away all your books, it seems only fair that I do the same," said Lupin.

"Where did you put them all?"

"Here and there," he replied. "I'll store some at Grimmauld place next time I'm there."

"And he made me do the whole job without magic," said Ron.

Lupin smiled. "You'll thank me when Mackenzie puts you through all those training exercises when you go back."

Hermione's brow furrowed in concern. "Are you sure you should be doing all that lifting? You were just released – "

"Hermione, I've done nothing but lie down for the last two weeks," Ron said in a patient voice. "I could use the exercise."

"Molly brought over some lunch while you were upstairs," said Lupin. " Do you want to grab Harry and Ginny?"

"They're just moving the last of my stuff. I'm sure they'll be down shortly," Hermione told them. She didn't know what they were really up to but she had seen Harry pull Ginny into her room and close the door. They were going to have to learn a thing or two about being discreet.

While Remus headed for the kitchen, Ron and Hermione remained behind in the study.

"Thanks for helping," she said to him.

"You don't have to thank me. I wanted to be here."

She had to say the next part before it became even harder to do so. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I need to do this on my own."

Ron looked puzzled. "I'm not sure I follow."

"I know that the three of us having always been a team," she started off. "But getting over my dependency on magic isn't something you and Harry can help me with."

Ron folded his arms across his chest. "So what are you getting at?" Even as he said it, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like the answer.

"I love you, Ron, but I have to work through this before you and I…"

She let the unfinished sentence hang in the air, but Ron understood her meaning clearly. "I know," he said quietly. "Are we going to have a go at being just friends then?"

"And you're okay with that?"

"No," he answered truthfully, shoving his hands in his trouser pockets. "But I'd rather it be like this than lose you all together."

For Hermione, when Ron acted like this it was hard to figure out how things had ended up such a mess between them in the first place. Maybe starting over as friends was just what they needed.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Hermione sighed as she glanced at yet another romance novel cover, leaving little to the imagination. She didn't know why she had allowed Ginny to drag her in there in the first place. Sure, she was desperate for something to read after staring at her empty bookshelves for a week, but this just wasn't the reading material she was looking for.

She would have given anything for an Arithmancy or Ancient Runes text, but she wouldn't find those in that particular bookstore. There were no magical books of any kind and Hermione was starting to think there was nothing educational around either. Was she doomed to read trashy novels like this for the rest of her life?

Of course whenever she thought about magic now, she was consumed by immense guilt. She had been doing her best to avoid Harry for some time now, which wasn't that hard to do considering all the hours he was putting in at the Ministry. She knew that he wasn't a mind reader but he was known to pick up on intense emotions even when he was blocking them out. If he had known what was going on in her head, he would have told Ron and they both would have gone into worried fits over her. She was much better now. Instead of thinking of magic every second of the day, it was only every ten minutes or so.

With no books to read and no job, she had been searching around for anything to occupy her time. Harry and Ron had been only happy to help, trying to get her into video games, but it wasn't something she was interested in. She had discovered the world of television though. She had never watched much before going away to Hogwarts, so she had never really missed it. But with little else to do it had become an easy way to kill time. While she had questioned Harry before on why he needed all those channels – she also suspected he had somehow used magic to gain access to so many – she was grateful that he had. She was currently hooked on a show called _CSI_, and was absolutely fascinated by all the science that went into muggle criminal investigations.

But in the beginning it had been bad. Little things like turning off a light or grabbing something from her closet turned into immensely difficult tasks. Without realizing it she had been using magic for the simplest of things. She felt like she was living like a muggle these days, taking the longer way to do everything. As if that wasn't enough, she would wake up in a cold sweat most nights. Once it had even been so bad, she had woken up both Remus and Ginny and they had come running to her room. Remus had sent Ginny back to her room, while he stayed with her until she fell back asleep. The day after that she had overheard a conversation between her old professor and Tonks, while they both thought she was in the shower.

_"Remus, this is bad," she could hear the normally cheerful Auror saying._

_"It's part of the process, Tonks," Remus replied._

_"What process? You're talking like you know what you're doing when you have absolutely no clue. There's places where she could – "_

_"Hermione is strong. She can do this on her own. She doesn't need to see any specialists or be sent anywhere."_

_"Damn it, Remus, Hermione's not some kind of classroom project. We've both seen situations like this before. Four out of five cases like this the person in question has several relapses before they can recover enough to use magic again. You're right, she's strong, probably even stronger than you at her current skill level. You know the kind of things she's done, what would happen if she started up again and couldn't stop? Her father wouldn't approve of this."_

_"He's not here, Tonks, and quite frankly he wouldn't know what to do even if he was."_

_"Just because he's not here, doesn't automatically make you her father."_

_"I know that! Just like I know Harry isn't my son, but she's still my responsibility," he said. Tonks had obviously touched a sore spot with him._

_"This is really about Harry, isn't it?" The Auror said intuitively. "He resents you for what happened between you and Lily and you're trying to erase that by helping Hermione."_

_"Harry's entitled to his feelings," he responded stiffly. "I wouldn't try to change them and I would never use Hermione's current condition as a way to make amends with Harry."_

_There was a long pause, before Remus said in a drained voice, "I need to get Ginny's lessons ready for the day."_

_Not another word was said between them before the front door opened and Tonks left._

She hadn't been angry at what Tonks had said. The Auror was just looking out for her in her own way. After hearing Remus's side, it made her feel like she could get through this. She wasn't going to let him down. What she didn't like was the obvious tension she had created between the two. Tonks had not been back to the house since, except that morning to take her and Ginny into town.

"Found anything you like?" Ginny asked, coming into view.

"I can't read these. I have standards. I think I would rather not read another book for the rest of my life," she told the younger girl.

Ginny made a face. "There are other book shops around here. We could go have a look after we get our dress robes."

It was Hermione's turn to make a face. She had forgotten the main reason they were there. The Ministry was holding its annual Christmas Ball for all the top brass. As Minister, Mr. Weasley was required to attend and had invited his family along with her and Harry.

"I don't think I'm going," she said.

"What? Why not?" Ginny cried.

Hermione sighed. "Because these things never turn out well, at least not for me. I think I'm cursed when it comes to balls."

Ginny laughed, much to Hermione's annoyance. "Come on, it's not that bad."

"Have you forgotten my fourth year when I went to the Yule Ball with Viktor and Ron and I had that horrible row afterwards? Or the Ministry Ball to celebrate your dad's position and Ron and I didn't talk to each other all night because we were already in a fight about him using your dad to get me a job. Trust me, Ginny, this time will not be any better."

"Maybe the problem is that you and Ron have never actually gone to a ball together."

"That doesn't seem like it's about to change any time soon," Hermione noted.

"Why don't you ask him to go with you?" Ginny made it sound like it was the easiest thing in the world.

"I can't," Hermione answered, shaking her head. "I've already told him I can only be friends with him right now. I don't want to make things any more complicated than they already are."

"So ask him as a friend."

"He's probably already going with someone."

Ginny snorted. "Yeah right, my brother who waits until the last minute for everything? The ball's not for another two weeks. He probably hasn't even opened his invitation yet. Besides, he hates these things as much as you do so I don't think he would ask anyone."

No matter what Ginny said, Hermione still didn't think it was a good idea. She and Ron were getting along fairly well and she did not want to jeopardize that. If past experiences were any indication, it would likely turn out to be a horrible night for them both.

"What about you and Harry?"

Ginny shrugged. "He hasn't said anything yet. But we're going on an actual date tonight, only Harry won't say where. It will be the first time we've actually gone out somewhere together."

"Maybe you should ask him," Hermione said, feeding Ginny's own advice back to her.

"Tonks, tell Hermione she has to go," Ginny said, saved from having to come up with an answer as the Auror came down their aisle.

"Go where?" Tonks asked, holding a basket of books under one arm.

"To the Ministry's Christmas Ball," Ginny said.

"Oh yeah, it'll be loads of fun," Tonks said with a grin. "There's always someone at one of these things who makes an arse out of themselves. It's also a good laugh to see all these department heads wives all dressed up in what they think is the latest fashion."

Ginny smiled triumphantly, as if that settled the matter.

"Why don't you want to go? No date? You should ask Ron."

_Why does everyone keep saying that? _"I'll ask Ron when you ask Remus."

"You know what happens to people who blackmail Aurors?" Tonks asked, glancing at both girls who stared back at her blankly. "No one knows because no one has ever found someone who lived long enough to talk about it," she grinned wickedly.

Hermione glanced at the stack of books inside the Auror's basked and raised a questioning eyebrow. "You're really going to read all those?" The covers she could see were by far worse than anything Ginny had picked out for her.

"Why not? I need something to do in my spare time," Tonks said and marched towards the short line up so she could pay.

What Ron wouldn't give to be at Grimmauld Place at the end of one of his mother's screaming lectures, then to be watching the gloating face of the smug bastard in front of him.

"Didn't your mother teach you not to stare? Or was she even incompetent in that department?" Malfoy sneered.

"In case you haven't noticed, Malfoy," Ron said, towering over the chair Malfoy was sitting in, "nobody cares what happens to you. You're just here to provide us with information. If we find out you're lying or your usefulness runs out – whichever happens first – I'll throw you to the Death Eaters myself."

"Aren't we the big man now that you've got the Auror robes on?" Malfoy taunted. "I guess he's not just a sidekick after all, eh Potter?"

Harry just looked away. Being ordered by Moody to check in on Malfoy was quickly becoming less favourable than Azkaban duty. All they were supposed to do was bring the Slytherin some food and do a thorough check of the premises. But Malfoy being Malfoy, was doing his best to incite Ron and start something.

"Let's get out of here, Harry," Ron said through clenched teeth.

"I want better accommodations," Malfoy demanded. "This place is disgusting."

While it was true the house the Order had Malfoy protected in was less than stellar, it was a far cry from shabby. The furniture was old but decent and Malfoy had been given several of the amities he had asked for.

"Provide us with something useful and we'll consider it," said Harry.

"I already saved the mudblood's life, isn't that enough?"

"If you call her that again, your life is going to be in need of saving," Harry seethed before Ron could say a word.

"What would it be worth to you if I told you where that Death Eater boss of hers was being held?"

Ron fell for the trap, but only for a second. "Nice try, Malfoy, but you don't know anything."

"I have nothing better to do than eavesdrop on those who come by here. Those Aurors have obnoxiously loud voices."

"Why the hell are you still here?" Harry demanded. "You could have been out of Britain by now, but you chose to stay here. What are you after?"

Malfoy smirked. "Do you think being anywhere else in the world is going to be any more safer once the Dark Lord strikes? Even if I left I would still be in the same danger you lot are in. It would just take a little longer for him to find him. I may despise every last one of you muggle and half-breed lovers, but I'm not going to be anyone's servant. Since your band of losers seems to have a remote chance of winning, I'd rather be on your side."

"Basically you're just out to save your own arse, is that it?" Harry said, not thinking it was possible to be any more disgusted with Malfoy.

"Basically," Malfoy responded, still smirking. "But I meant what I said about exchanging the location of the Experimental Charms ex-director for better accommodations and perhaps some fresh air."

"Where is he?" Ron said, taking the bait.

"The Aurors have cell spots spread out for prisoners awaiting transfer to Azkaban."

"That doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know."

"Patience, Weasley, I was getting there," Malfoy drwaled. "He's in a shielded room at some abandoned shop that used to be called Kippers in downtown Bristol. Not a very friendly area."

Ron turned and marched out of there, with Malfoy calling after him. "Remember, what you owe me for this!"

"Ron, even if Malfoy is telling the truth, we can't go there," Harry said when they were outside.

"And why not? Because we're not supposed to know about it or because you're worried about what I'm going to do to that bastard."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," he said, pretending to think it over. "I'll see what kind of mood I'm in when I get there."

"Hermione wouldn't want you to throw away your career as an Auror for this," he said, trying another approach.

"What Hermione doesn't know won't hurt her," Ron said.

"Remember how well that worked out the last time you said that?" Harry reminded him.

"This is different," Ron insisted. "That arsehole was a spy the entire time. Who knows what kind of information he was able to get his hands on. Not to mention he planned that whole charm scenario to hand Hermione and me over to You-Know-Who, so you would give yourself up in exchange for our freedom. If the Aurors hadn't found Hermione in time we don't know what they would have done to her. As it is, we don't know what was done to her or where she was because she says she can't remember. Fuck, Harry, she's supposed to be your best friend and you're practically defending Anderson."

"I want to see him pay for what he did as much as you do," Harry snapped. "Don't tell me I don't care about Hermione just because I'm not going off all half cocked like you are."

"Fine, whatever. You don't have to come," Ron said and began walking away.

Harry swore. Despite all his words, his feelings were the same as Ron's. How was he supposed to keep Ron out of trouble when he wanted to do those same things to Anderson?

He remembered his promise to take Ginny out on what was going to be their first real date. He still had a few hours before that was supposed to happen. He would just have to make sure they were in back in time.

Ginny was positive it was late when she was pulled out of her slumber by someone softly calling her name. She blinked open her eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness of the room before she could make out the outlined figure sitting on her bed.

She rolled over on her side and checked the time on the clock beside her bed. "Harry, it's almost two o'clock. What are you doing here?" She said, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Gin, I know we had plans but something came up with Ron," he offered up lamely.

"So you blew me off for my brother?"

"What! No!" He whispered sharply, not wanting to wake anyone else.

"He knew we had a date then?"

Harry adjusted the glasses on his face, saying, "no, not exactly."

Ginny sat up, wide-awake now and beside herself with anger. "You were afraid of what Ron's reaction would be if he knew there was something between us, so you didn't tell him and instead went along with whatever he had in mind?"

"I don't care what Ron thinks about us, but I just didn't think it was the right time to tell him," he answered carefully, hoping to avoid setting her off further. "Come on, Gin, what was I going to tell him? That for months we just fooled around, and that ever since I shagged his little sister we've been trying to figure things out. Yeah, that would have gone over real well," he said sarcastically.

"You know what, this isn't even about my brother anymore. It's about how you said things would be different. But you know what, Harry? Nothing's changed. I can't count on you," she said, dropping her voice to barely above a whisper.

Harry stared down at his hands. He just kept screwing things up. God, he was such a fucking idiot. Maybe he just wasn't cut out for this sort of thing.

"I'm starting to think that too," she muttered. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Harry was giving her the strangest look.

"I didn't say that out loud. How did you know I was thinking that?"

"I didn't. The words just popped into my head."

He wanted to try something. "What am I thinking now?"

"I don't know."

"You didn't even try."

Annoyed, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate solely on Harry, or more accurately what he was thinking. "I don't know. You seem agitated or troubled about something – wait, how can I know that?"

He looked as puzzled as she did. Only what she was feeling was quite different from him. She was terrified.

"How long has this been going on?" He asked her.

"I've been having these awful headaches since I went to visit Ron at St. Mungo's. It was like being there just made me sick but I would feel better once I'd left."

"What else?"

"I don't really know how to describe it, but sometimes when I'm around Remus I start to feel sick and most of the time when I'm around you it either feels like this amazing, happy thing or – "

"_Or _what?" Harry demanded to know.

"It hurts, really bad," she said, willing herself to look at him. "It's so painful I think I might pass out."

Instinctively, Harry moved off the bed, as if he were trying to create some distance between them.

"I'm fine right now," she assured him, but her words didn't seem to register with Harry.

"You should have said something."

He was angry, and she was amazed at how quickly the tables had turned. A few minutes ago she had been the furious one and now it was Harry's turn.

"I thought it would go away," she said in her defense.

"Well, it's obviously not, isn't it? It's just getting worse."

She could hear the self-recrimination in his voice. He had known about this for all of two minutes and was already starting up the blame-Harry-Potter-for-everything parade. She was sure her current situation was a result of Harry, but she hadn't even thought to consider blaming him for anything yet, as she was still trying to figure out what was happening, and more importantly _why_ it was happening.

"Harry, it's late. We're both tired. Let's deal with this tomorrow." She was surprised at the calmness of her own voice because she was actually scared out of her mind at what she could do. She was sure Harry picked up on that.

Harry didn't argue with her, not because he didn't agree but because he was afraid if they started fighting he would just hurt her – and he'd already done enough of that.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ginny didn't go downstairs until almost noon the next day. Sleep had been difficult after Harry had gone, and when she did sleep her dreams were restless. She awoke feeling like she hadn't slept for more than a few hours.

She had slept right through her alarm and wondered why Remus hadn't come to wake her for her lessons. The only thing Remus was a stickler about was punctuality, and she was sure she would hear about it when she got downstairs.

She got ready quickly. At least at Hogwarts she could have come up with any one of a hundred excuses, or cracked out Fred and George's emergency snack box designed to make anyone sick long enough to miss a full day of lessons, but Remus wouldn't fall for any of that.

She bounded down the stairs, coming to a halt just outside the kitchen. Remus was sitting at the table with Harry, and to her astonishment Dumbledore was there as well.

Dumbledore noticed her first and gave her a warm smile. "Ah, Miss Weasley, I'm glad you're able to join us. I hope we weren't too loud before."

Normally, she would have exchanged pleasantries with Dumbledore, but the serious air in the room gave her the distinct impression that this was why Remus had not come upstairs to get her. She saw the severe look on Remus's face, but Harry wouldn't meet her gaze. This was bad. She knew what Harry had done. She just had a hard time believing he would do something like this without even talking to her first.

"Harry has expressed his concerns that he's affecting you his empath abilities," Dumbledore started off. "Would you be able to give us an example of this?"

"_He's_ already told you everything, hasn't he?" Ginny snapped, glancing at Harry. She took some satisfaction in the fact that he flinched at the coldness in her voice.

"Yes, Harry has explained to us his version of certain events, but I would also like to hear the details first hand from you."

"Where do you want me to start?"

"Harry said that Remus affects you as well. Can you please describe that and when those feelings happened."

"I hurt all over," she started slowly. "It felt like my body was changing. I'm sorry, I don't really know how to describe it," she said, feeling stupid.

"That's quite all right," Dumbledore assured her. "Can you tell me when you felt like this?"

She didn't see how that was important. "It was last week sometime. I don't know the exact date." She looked at Remus, who now wouldn't look at her either.

"I believe what you experienced was linked to Remus's transformation," said Dumbledore. "It was a full moon last week and the symptoms you are describing match with that. The change is excruciatingly painful even with Wolfsbane."

Before Ginny could begin to comprehend what he was saying, he was already asking another question. "Can you think of any other incidents?"

"When I was at St. Mungo's I felt sick," she answered.

"That must have been a horrible ordeal for you," Dumbledore said in understanding. "All those people sick and in pain."

"What does all this mean?" Ginny figured she had been patient enough. She wasn't going to answer any more questions until some of her own got answered.

"It seems that however unintentionally, Harry may have passed on his empath abilities to you, albeit they're somewhat limited. You can't feel everything like Harry can. You're only capable of picking up on the strongest emotions, pain being one of them. From what Harry's described, it would seem that your connection to him is the strongest."

Ginny thought she might die of humiliation if Dumbledore made her describe what Harry made her feel when they were together. Thankfully, he must have gotten enough information from Harry and was not going to embarrass them both by asking her the same questions.

"I have already discussed this with Harry, and I think it would be best if you put some distance between yourselves for awhile."

This was why Harry was avoiding looking at her. It wasn't because he had gone to Remus and Dumbledore. It was because they had told him he would have to stay away from her.

"There's a very good chance that the link will sever itself once you've been apart," Dumbledore told them both.

"What if it doesn't?" She steadied herself for the answer.

"As Harry's powers are directly linked to Voldemort, the connection you share may not disappear until Voldemort is no more. I'm sorry, Miss Weasley, but there is no definite answer for a situation as unique as this," said Dumbledore, sounding apologetic. "But in order to keep this from getting out of control, it's best to err on the side of caution, which means you and Harry shouldn't have any contact unless it's absolutely necessary."

She didn't even get a say in what was going on. Dumbledore and Harry had made the decision and now they just expected her to go along with it. Dumbledore had just dropped all this information on her, not even giving her a chance to take any of it in.

Harry's chair scraped against the floor and he stood up. "I'll leave," he said to no one in particular.

When he made it to Ginny, he didn't pause or hesitate before walking on passed her.

* * *

Ron swore, wishing for the hundredth time he had taken his mum up on her countless offers to teach him laundry charms. Now he was stuck doing it the bloody muggle way. 

"Ron, what are you doing?"

He nearly jumped out his skin. "Jesus, Hermione, give a bloke a heart attack, why don't you?"

"I thought it was impossible to sneak up on Aurors."

Ron thought he detected a hint of smugness in her tone and he didn't like that at all. "I was distracted," he said, slightly flustered that she was able to sneak up on him.

"I can see that," she said, eyeing his mountain of laundry. "Is that your Auror robes?" She pointed to one pile in particular.

"Yeah. I do wash them, you know."

"You can't wash them with your white shirts, you'll turn them dark blue."

"So what? I like black."

She rolled her eyes. "You really are impossible."

Ron smirked. "Not really. I just like getting you all riled up. But hey, if you're so concerned about the well being of my clothes, by all means feel free to do my laundry."

Hermione looked scandalized. "Your mum would have kittens if she saw you trying to pin your dirty laundry on me."

"Yeah, but she's not here."

Hermione threw one of the shirts from the basket in his face. She was going to laugh, when she recognized the crimson coloured splotches on it. "Is that blood?"

She looked slightly horrified so Ron tried to shrug off her concern. "It goes with the job. It's nothing I'm not used to."

"It's not something to joke about," she said, frowning.

"So what brings you by here anyways or was it just to comment on my lacking domestic skills?" He said, changing the subject.

"I wanted to run something by you," she started, watching him fill up the washing machine. "What do you think of the idea of you and me going to the Christmas Ball – together?"

Ron's hand stopped in mid air. He looked at her and said, "together?"

She nodded. "As friends."

"As friends?"

"Ron, stop repeating everything I say," she said, sounding slightly exasperated.

"Sorry," he apologized, scratching the back of his head. "I just wasn't expecting you to ask me."

"So you don't want to go?" She was already feeling the beginnings of humiliation setting in. Why had she let Ginny and Tonks talk her into this?

"No, that's not it at all," he said quickly, not wanting to give her the wrong idea. "It's just you and I don't exactly have a great track record when it comes to these things. We seem to be in a worse off state when they're over."

"Maybe it's because we've never actually gone to one together," she said, repeating the advice Ginny had given her.

Ron considered this. "Okay, let's go together. But if this ball turns out badly, I am never going to one of these things again."

Hermione whole-heartedly agreed. She would swear off all balls, dances and any other functions for the rest of her life.

"What are you wearing?" Ron tried to ask casually.

"I haven't decided yet," she said, coyly.

"I really liked those blue dress robes you wore to the Yule Ball in fourth year."

"You did?"

He nodded. "I'll never forget how you looked in it because it made me feel like such a git for not realizing until that moment how beautiful you are."

She felt her face flush. "Ron…"

"What? A friend can't compliment another friend?" He said innocently.

She supposed there wasn't any real harm in it, but hearing Ron talk about her like that just made their current situation even harder.

"Harry," she breathed in surprise.

Ron frowned. She was thinking about Harry at that moment? Then he noticed Hermione was looking passed him. He turned and saw his best mate with a scowl planted on his face before he walked off. Hermione turned an expectant look on him, as if he was supposed to know why Harry was in another one of his moods.

"You know Harry, he's always brooding about something," Ron said, even though he had a fair idea what was at least partially responsible for his mood. He sighed. "Look, it probably has to do with that blood on my shirt."

Hermione looked stricken. "Were you were patrolling together? Is Harry all right?"

"No, it's not like that," he said evasively. "We should be honest with each other, right?"

"Of course, Ron," she said, not quite understanding what he was getting at.

He took a deep breath. "We found out the Aurors are keeping Jack Anderson in Bristol. It used to be a shop called Kippers but since then it's been converted into a Ministry safe house for prisoners awaiting trial."

Hermione took a step back from him. "Ron, please tell me you and Harry didn't do anything."

"After what that bastard did to you – "

"Don't even tell me that you did this for me." She wasn't sure whether to be disgusted or outraged.

She shoved Ron aside, which was not an easy feat by any means and stormed into the kitchen where Harry was standing at the counter drinking a cup of coffee. Ron hurried in behind her.

"What did you guys do make some kind of 'protect Hermione' pact when I wasn't looking?" She exploded at Harry. "What were you thinking going after Anderson?"

Harry looked accusingly at Ron, who could only shrug. He had only been following Harry's advice. If he kept this from Hermione and she found out later, he doubted she would ever speak to him.

"Hermione, what's done is done," Harry said calmly and that enraged Hermione further.

"How can you talk like that? I expected Ron to do something like this, but I at least thought you would try to stop him, not join in. Did you think about what could happen to your careers as Aurors if someone found out?"

"Hermione, no one's going to find out. It's not like we killed the bastard. We just roughed him up a bit," Ron said in a vain attempt to calm her down.

"The two of you are unbelievable!" She exclaimed. "I'm not going to have my best friends throw their lives away because they think they're protecting me."

The mug Harry was holding exploded in his hands, sending shards of ceramic and coffee flying in every direction. Harry's own temper seemed to explode along with it. "You're one to talk about throwing a life away. That's exactly what you were doing all that time you were hooked on magic."

"Maybe we shouldn't – "

"That's how this damn whole thing with magic got started," Harry cut Ron off. "You wanted to do the sacrificial spell and Ron and I agreed because at least that way we would know what you were doing. After that, you must have figured you could do anything, and you started digging up books on what Lupin says is borderline dark magic when you already knew how magic like that changes a person. You were always telling us off, saying that magic isn't a crutch or something to take for granted, and then you go and get yourself addicted to it."

"Harry, that's enough," Ron warned.

"You want to know what the worst part is?" He continued, his voice shaking now. "You were drowning and we didn't even notice."

Grabbing a dishcloth, Harry wrapped it around the hand that had been holding the cup when it exploded. He walked straight passed Ron and Hermione without looking at them, stopping only long enough to slam the door to his bedroom shut, causing the lights in the house to flicker briefly.

Hermione left the house in a similar fashion, leaving Ron alone to deal with mess left behind.

* * *

Remus Lupin was rather surprised when he found Hermione sitting alone in the study, curled up with a book. She looked very much like she was trying to concentrate, but with little success. 

"Interesting read?"

Her head snapped up to see him standing in the doorway. "It's better than that rubbish Ginny reads – don't tell her I said that," she added as an afterthought.

Remus had an impressive collection of old literature both by wizard and muggle authors, some dating back hundreds of years. Normally she would have been enthralled at the chance to go through such a collection, but she had other things on her mind.

"I thought you'd be at Harry's," Remus observed. "Isn't that muggle show you like on?"

"I thought with the Order meeting I would just stay here."

"Do you want to know what we discussed?"

Hermione stared at him in shock.

"I didn't tell you not to attend Order meetings as a form of punishment. I just wanted to make sure you focused on what was more important."

"We're in the middle of war. I don't feel right sitting here, doing nothing when everyone else is contributing one way or another."

"Your recovery is important, Hermione."

She didn't say anything, but her look conveyed her doubt.

"I know I've been incredibly hard on you," Lupin began, "and the reason for it is because out of everyone I expected you to obey the rules of magic. I didn't think you would ever cross that line and that's what blinded me from seeing what was really happening with you."

"So I turned out to be a big disappointment then?"

"You're not a disappointment. You did make some rather bad decisions though, and now you're being forced to deal with them. Hermione, the point I'm trying to make is when you set someone up to be perfect, you're setting yourself up for disappointment because there is no such thing as perfect."

She took her old Professor's words to heart, and she felt the need to confess something. "I overheard you and Tonks talking about me." She shook her head ruefully. "I've gone from magic abuser to professional eavesdropper. Not much of an improvement, is it?"

Lupin didn't look at all upset by her admission. "If your eavesdropping was done without the aid of magic or some Weasley twin creation, then I believe I've made my point to Tonks," he said with a gentle smile.

"That's not the reason Tonks stopped coming around here is it?" She inquired.

"No, that's not it. We can both sometimes be too stubborn for our own good."

"As in too stubborn to go to the Christmas Ball together?" Hermione said in a not so subtle way.

"Stick with eavesdropping, Hermione. It's far less complicated," he said and left the room.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

Somehow Hermione mustered the strength to climb up the stairs. She was frozen to the bone and yet covered in sweat. The fact that she felt like she would pass out was probably a sign that running in the thick of winter with snow falling around her, had not been the best idea. But she had been going out of her mind sitting around the house, that going to Ron and asking if she could run with him had seemed like a brilliant idea at the time.

She knew he had even significantly shortened his route on purpose, and if it had not been for the cold, her aching muscles, and burning lungs, she would have insisted that he continue. No matter what, she wasn't going to allow Ron to help her back. She still had some pride left.

She leaned back against her bedroom door to close it, finally accepting that perhaps she had overdone it a little. At least Remus and Ginny were in town on some field trip and wouldn't see her in this condition. She gripped her painful sides, realizing it was the first time since her release from St. Mungo's that she was home alone. Almost always Remus or Ginny be home with her, and when they couldn't be here Tonks or Mrs. Weasley would come by. She was a seventeen year-old adult who had her own set of babysitters. Finally, after two weeks they were ready to leave her on her own. She knew they had good intentions, but they needed to start trusting her sooner or later.

"Are you all right?"

She let out a short scream at seeing the disembodied head of Harry over her bed.

"I really hate it when you do that, Harry," she said, her heartbeat still racing. "Why are you sitting up here with your invisibility cloak on anyways?"

"I, er, thought it was the best way to talk to you," he said, removing the cloak completely.

Comprehension dawned on her. "Ginny's not here. She went with Remus into town on some field trip." Ginny had confided in her with regards to what was going on with her and Harry. It was a lot to take in but Hermione found herself agreeing with Dumbledore, though she didn't voice her opinion to Ginny.

"You didn't answer me before. What's wrong with your side?" He said, not wanting to get stuck on the subject of why he and Ginny were staying away from one another.

"Nothing," she said, walking over to her bed and sitting down on the end of it. "I decided to try running with Ron and I overdid it a bit." She read the expression on his face. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you can't understand how Ron and I can be just friends after everything that's happened."

He shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "I thought you were angry with him – at the both of us."

"I _am_, but I'm more worried that you're both going to get into trouble. I know your intentions were good but I don't ever want you or Ron ever doing anything like that again," she stated, her tone dead serious.

"We have to meet with Mackenzie later," he told her. "She's running an inquiry into what happened with Anderson. It won't be that bad," he tried to reassure her.

From what little Hermione knew about Mackenzie in the few times she had met her at Grimmauld Place, she was not only one of the instructors, she was also one of the best, even Moody complimented her, which went a long way. She was also a no-nonsense type like Moody, who tended to see through people when they were lying.

She had to believe the Auror didn't have any hard evidence of Harry and Ron's actions, otherwise she wouldn't have wasted her time questioning all the other Aurors.

"I was really out of line with all those things I said," said Harry looking up at her.

"It was the truth," she responded.

"I didn't mean for it to come out the way it sounded," he continued.

"Maybe it was better that you did," she told him. "Aside from Remus, no one is saying anything. They're all too busy walking on eggshells around me."

"You want them to punish you?"

"I don't know," she said shrugging. "Sometimes I feel like nobody trusts me anymore – not that I really blame them. I couldn't sleep for almost a week and when I finally could I would wake up in a cold sweat. Remus and Ginny have even stopped using magic when I'm around. And I can't tell anyone how hard it is because it's my fault I ended up like this." As if confessing all that to Harry wasn't bad enough, she felt tears stinging her eyes. Suddenly she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her and she buried her face against Harry's shirt.

"I think the reason I was so mad," he started, still holding her, "was because I realized you weren't perfect. I know how stupid that sounds, but that's how I felt. You have always been my conscience – the best part of me."

Hermione looked up at him wide-eyed. "Harry, that's – " She couldn't find the words to show how much she was moved by what he had said. "You just want to see me cry some more."

She was surprised to hear him chuckle. Harry very rarely laughed anymore. Just today Ron today had described him as being a miserable git for days now.

"So much has changed this year," she said, resting her head against his shoulder. "My dad leaving. Lucius Malfoy abudcting you. Hogwarts closing. You and Ron becoming Aurors, and about a hundred other things." It made her head hurt thinking about how different everything was now.

"It's going to be a hard year to top," he said wryly.

* * *

Ron looked down at his watch and then back up again. He swore under his breath. The reason for his choice of curse words came hurrying down the Auror department corridor. 

"Where the hell have you been?" Ron barked at Harry. "We were supposed to meet with Mackenzie twenty minutes ago."

"I know, I'm sorry. I got caught up with something," was all the explanation he offered up.

"If that's the best you can come up with, you better let me do all the talking while we're in there," Ron said, still sounding angry.

Ron knocked on the closed office door he had been standing in front of and Mackenzie called out for them to enter.

Mackenzie was sitting at her desk. "Close the door," she ordered.

Harry shut it and then took his place standing beside Ron. Mackenzie had two chairs in front of her desk but neither one of them dared to sit down without her permission.

"I'm glad you found the time to fit us in to your busy schedule, Potter," Mackenzie snapped. "If getting here on time is going to be a problem, I know one way to fix it. You'll patrol Azkaban tomorrow night with Caven. Show up on time and you'll be back with Weasley on Thursday."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said, his voice unwavering. He wished Ron would wipe the pale look off his face.

"Now we can get started on why you're both here," said Mackenzie a moment later. "Since this is your first prisoner interview, I'll explain how it works. Every once in a while, we catch a lowlife scum worse than usual and someone gets the notion in their head that it's all right to beat the shit out of them. I neither approve nor disprove these actions but because by wizarding law every prisoner has rights, I'm forced to launch an investigation without tying up too many resources. If I find nothing, that's what goes in my report. If I find out who's responsible I have full control over what penalty to hand out, including termination with no chance of reinstatement. Do you understand all that?"

"Yes ma'am," Harry and Ron said in unison.

Mackenzie looked down at her notes. "Where were you both last Monday between the hours of ten and two in the morning?"

"Patrolling on Westbury End and Sutton," Ron answered.

"This is together I assume?"

Ron nodded.

"So you're each other's alibi's then, correct?"

"That's correct," said Harry this time.

"How convenient," she muttered, looking down at her notes. "As of yet, I haven't interviewed anyone patrolling that area who can discredit your story. However, I find it highly unlikely that two young Aurors like yourselves, would be working ten hours after their shift was to end. More to the point, you didn't even file these extra hours in your report for that day. Care to explain this?"

"Would you want all those old tosser Aurors to know the new guys are pulling all kinds of overtime?" Ron said. "They'd think we're budging in on their turf or whatever."

"You and Potter do this often?"

"No, but it was the first decent night in weeks and I'd rather be out there taking down Death Eaters, then sitting on my arse at home while more people die."

Harry nearly blanched at Ron's ability to lie. He was probably making it up as he went along. Fred and George would have beenn proud.

"While I appreciate your dedication, Weasley. This is going to stop. All hours out in the field are to be logged. Is that Clear? Furthermore, from what I've seen of your attitude, I would think you could handle and probably even enjoy mouthing off to those 'old tosser Aurors' as you put it. Nevertheless, some of them can be quite territorial," Mackenzie conceded, "especially now that we seem to be having new trainees popping up almost monthly," she finished with a note of disgust. "I've got everything I need at the moment. If I need to call you back in here I will. Weasley, you're dismissed. Potter I need you to stay behind for a minute."

Ron didn't look at Harry as he passed. Mackenzie seemed to believe their story. There was no need for them to exchange looks and give the Auror any chance to think there was a cover-up going on.

Mackenzie waited until Ron was out of the office and the door closed before speaking to Harry.

"I see you still haven't done anything about this," she said and pointed to his glasses.

"No, they haven't been a problem."

"Not yet, but it will happen. You're as good as blind with those off, aren't you?"

Harry adjusted his glasses self-consciously. "Things are a bit blurry but – "

"Potter, last time I said it as a suggestion, but now I'm making it an order. You need to get those eyes fixed. If we weren't already short Aurors I would have made you get it done months ago." She saw the reluctant look spread across his face. "Not too keen on the idea, are you? If Weasley died or was severely injured because of your handicap you'd be singing a different tune."

He had never before thought of his glasses as a hindering fact. Sure, they had been broken more times then he could remember and when they had gotten knocked off he had been at a complete disadvantage, but he had never considered the possibility of his poor sight affecting others.

"There's a Healer at St. Mungo's who specializes in different eye conditions and injuries. He's booked solid for the rest of December – too many people wanting to give themselves perfect eyesight as a Christmas present. I've taken the liberty of booking you the first available appointment in January. It's a very simple procedure. It takes about an hour and they release you the same day. It takes about a week for your eyes to heal. In that time you'll have several appointments with the Healer to make sure everything's fine. Once they clear you fit for duty you'll be back."

Harry took the brochure she handed him with the Healer's name and a more detailed description of the procedure.

"That's all, Potter. I'll inform Caven you'll be with him at Azkaban tomorrow night."

Harry left the office, finding Ron pacing around outside waiting for him.

"Why did she want to question you separately?" Ron asked in a hushed voice.

"It wasn't about that," Harry said as they started walking. He showed Ron the brochure Mackenzie had given him and told him what she had said.

"If you don't read what they actually do to your eyes, it doesn't sound that bad," Ron said to him.

Harry didn't say anything. He would feel stupid saying he would rather keep his glasses than go through any of that. It was just he had gotten so used to his glasses they had become like a part of him and he didn't want to give them up. But if he wanted to continue his career as an Auror he would have to have the procedure done.

"Mate, I can't make sense of half the stuff written here. You'd feel better if you asked Hermione – "

Ron stopped in mid sentence and Harry understood why. He couldn't go to Hermione about this. It was a magical procedure and she was supposed to be staying away from that kind of stuff.

"Mackenzie explained it well enough," he said, taking the brochure back from Ron. "I'll just go and have it done when she's scheduled me for."

Even if they couldn't correct his vision, which the brochure warned might happen, his eyesight wouldn't be any worse off than it was now. Only then he wouldn't have to worry about giving up his glasses because Mackenzie would probably force him to quit.

* * *

"There is no way he's staying here," Ron stated firmly. 

"You think I actually want to stay in this _dive_?" Malfoy snapped. "I want that dirty werewolf to stay far away from me."

Harry felt a surge of anger. "Shut the hell up."

Malfoy ignored him and turned to Ron. "I guess it must seem like a mansion compared to where you come from, Weasley." Malfoy drawled.

"This is a temporary arrangement," Tonks interrupted the boys. "We can't risk You-Know-Who or Narcissa Malfoy finding him. Malfoy understands that his staying here is contingent upon his continuance to provide us with information on Death Eater activities. Hopefully, it will only be for a week or two, until we can ensure another safe house is secure."

"Does Moody know about this?" Harry had a hard time believing Moody of all people would agree to this arrangement.

"Moody's the one who insisted upon it," Tonks said. "Remus is more than capable of handling one extra body."

"I'm not just some body," Malfoy snarled. "I demand to be treated – "

"Sod off, Malfoy. You're going to be treated like the slimy bastard you are," Ron interrupted. "You must hate how our roles are reversed. Now I'm the one with money and you've got nothing. Daddy's in Azkaban and mummy cut you off as soon as she found out you didn't have the heart to go through with framing me. Now you've got nothing.

"Shut the hell up, Weasley," Malfoy growled, stepping towards him.

Harry moved to Ron's side, the two of them prepared to take on the Slytherin.

"Enough," said Remus, standing between them. "Bill, show Malfoy to his _temporary_ room upstairs." Hefixed Malfoy with a threatening stare. "I may not be able to turn you into a ferret, but I know countless spells that would be far more painful to endure. Don't give me a reason to use them."

There was an actual look of fear in Malfoy's eyes, before he replaced it with his normal menacing glare and marched up the stairs.

"You can't expect Ginny and Hermione to stay here," said Ron. "Have you even talked to my mum? There's no way – "

"She understands the arrangement is only temporary," Remus informed him. "Malfoy knows if he gives me a reason to throw him out I will. Right now we're all he's got and he knows that."

"He doesn't even care about Voldemort or what happens," said an angry Harry. "He's just using us."

"The same way we're using him," Tonks reminded him. "Only we're getting the better end of the deal. Since Malfoy started giving us information we've taken down five death eater cells and have another half dozen raids planned. At the moment, he's our best informant."

"What about Grimmauld Place?" Said Hermione, not liking the idea of Malfoy staying there any more than the others.

"Malfoy still doesn't know The Order exists," said Remus, lowering his voice. "He probably has his suspicions about it because his father knew about the Order. But that's something he can't find out about because it puts far too many people at risk. As far as Malfoy knew, he was being held in a Ministry safe house. We made it convincing by having Mackenzie and Kingsley come by to check on him. Grimmauld Place is the center of Order activity, and Malfoy's not stupid. He would figure out for himself what's going on. Right now, he just thinks that there's those of us outside the Ministry who oppose Voldemort and would help the Ministry if need be. That's the way it has to stay."

"How long is temporary?" Hermione asked.

"This was the easiest solution we could come up with," said Tonks. "If Malfoy plans on being his usual pain in the arse self he'll be finding himself homeless faster than he can say 'broke'. For the time being, you'll just have to put up with him."

"What about when Remus transforms?" Ron asked, not thrilled about the thought of Malfoy being alone with his sister and Hermione. He didn't care if Malfoy helped their side win the war. He would never trust that bastard.

"I know you girls have been staying here by yourself but for the meantime, I think someone should be here. If I'm available, I'll come here," Tonks said. "If not Bill or someone else will be here."

"Can't we just make him tell us everything he knows and be done with him?" Ron suggested.

"You know it doesn't work like that, Ron," said Lupin.

"Harry, Ron, we need to get back to the Ministry for Moody's weekly debriefing," Tonks instructed them. "Then we've got a couple of raids to take care of."

Neither of them seemed too thrilled about the idea of leaving with the new _houseguest _settling in upstairs, but they followed Tonks lead and left. As soon as they got they got the chance both boys would be back there to make sure Malfoy was behaving himself.

* * *

Harry hit the ground hard, his glasses dangling dangerously at the end of his nose. He didn't have time to catch his breath as a booted foot kicked him ruthlessly in the ribs. He managed to lock his attackers legs between his own, so when he rolled over he twisted the other man's leg, who let out a howl of pain. He was already disarmed, Harry had made sure of that before, but while he had been shielding himself from another curse, the Death Eater had jumped him from behind. 

To Harry, this seemed to be almost a new breed of Death Eaters altogether. Before, any confrontation with Death Eaters meant as soon as it was clear they were at a distinct disadvantage, they would retreat, wanting to avoid any chance at being captured. Now, none of that applied anymore. These Death Eaters were here to fight to the death.

Harry, wanting to end this as soon as possible so he could go help Ron, aimed his wand and shouted the modified version of the body binding curse Mackenzie had taught him in training. By using it, no one could break the spell but the person who had inflicted it initially, ensuring the Death Eater could be used for interrogation later.

With the Death Eater immobilized, Harry ventured over to where Ron was dueling with two enemies.

Harry concentrated hard, getting inside the two minds hoping to confuse them enough that they would see each other as the enemy. He got them to stop throwing deadly curses at Ron and slowly, yet reluctantly train their wands on one another.

Harry could feel them fighting to throw off his control and knew he would not be able to maintain the link long enough. He fired a stunning spell at the one closest him, while Ron took out the other one.

Harry grabbed his head, feeling the pain of a thousand knives stabbing through his skull.

"Damn it, Harry, Lupin told you not to use your mind control in battle," said Ron, coming over to make sure he was all right. They all knew how much it weighed on him to use his powers in general, and in a battle situation he couldn't afford to be in a weakened state.

"No, it's my scar," said Harry, removing his hands from his head.

Ron actually looked apprehensive at the prospect of Harry's scar hurting. Harry hadn't complained about his in bothering him in – well, Ron couldn't remember exactly but it had been months at least.

"Looks like we got everyone we're going to," Tonks announced, jogging over to them. "Moody has a team doing a final sweep through the building for any traps and then we'll get an analysis squad in there to see if they can recover anything. You two all right?"

"Fine," Harry rasped. Ron knew better than to mention anything to do with his scar in the open when there were so many people around.

Tonks sighed wearily. "Something was seriously off with this bunch. Fighting to the death? Some of these blokes were fighting with their bare hands."

Harry could tell by the Auror's voice how frustrated she was by this new pattern of behaviour. Not just that, but he sensed she was deeply troubled as well.

"I need to supervise the retrieval of bodies and captives, your job is done here," Tonks told them.

"How many on our side were hit?" Ron asked.

"Ferguson and Caven were hit pretty hard but they should recover. Jenkins didn't make it," Tonks told them, knowing she had a job to finish before she could think about any of the casualties.

Tonks left them there and headed back to the scene in Diagon Alley where the fighting had first started. These Death Eaters had holed themselves up in the teahouse that had been destroyed in a blast months ago when Harry and Ron had been searching for a pair of Death Eaters. Luckily the owner had decided to move elsewhere instead of rebuilding from the rubble. But it just wasn't like Death Eaters to return to a spot of a previous crime.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Ron nudged him.

Usually Ron was one to hang around and make sure every last Death Eater had been rounded up, but this had been by far their most difficult raid to date. He could normally handle two death eaters on his own, but these ones had been relentless, never really allowing him an opening to attack.

He couldn't feel it now, but he was sure in the morning his body was going to be one massive bruise. With the Christmas Ball the next night, it was going to be uncomfortable enough walking around in stuffy dress robes without his body responding painfully to every move he made. Maybe he could convince Hermione to skip the ball with him.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ron was in the middle of fixing his ruddy tie that wouldn't stay done up when he heard a knock at the front door and then the sound of it being opened. He left his room, letting the tie dangle around his neck to see who it was even though he already had a pretty good idea of who it could be.

His body wasn't nearly as stiff and sore as he thought it would be, which was almost disappointing in a way. If he had been worse off he could have used that as an excuse not to go. He probably wouldn't have had to guilt trip his mum into letting him stay home either, since she would have undoubtedly heard from Tonks or Moody by now exactly what they had come up against last night.

He walked into the living room just as Hermione stepping out of the fireplace, wearing royal blue dress robes, with her hair all done up and a few loose strands hanging around her face. He knew he was staring but he didn't care.

"You look… hot," he breathed before he could stop himself.

"You don't look too bad yourself," she said, not wanting to show how much his words had affected her, but she was blushing all the same.

"Do you need a hand with this?" She indicated to his tie.

"You remember what happened the last time you did this?" He said, smirking slightly.

_What a smug prat_, she thought to herself. "I don't think we have to worry about that this time," she said grabbing the ends of his tie. "I think our teenage hormones are passed that."

"I'm not too sure about that," he said, still smirking.

She concentrated on her task, not wanting to indulge his delusions of grandeur.

"Did Ginny already go to Grimmauld Place?"

She nodded. "She left just before I came here."

"She still having a rough time of it?" He asked and she nodded. "She'll get over it," Ron said, trying to sound encouraging.

She arched an eyebrow at him. "The same way Harry's getting over it?"

Hermione had been forced to tell Ron what was going on with his sister and Harry once he had started asking questions about why they were both acting like someone had just died. Ron had been somewhat upset at first, his big brother instincts kicking in, but Hermione had assured him that Harry was keeping his distance and that Ginny seemed to be doing better.

Ron stayed quiet and she finished fixing his tie in silence. She took a step back from him, saying, "is he coming tonight?"

"No."

"Have you tried asking him?"

"Hermione, you can't force Harry to get over this. He's not dealing with it so well, which makes me think we need to give him some space."

While Ron was probably right – something Hermione would never admit – it didn't stop her from marching into the living room.

Harry, unshaven and looking as sleep deprived as ever, was sitting on the couch in a pair of faded jeans and tee shirt playing video games. He gave no notice of Hermione's presence at all.

She tried calling his name, but when he wouldn't answer she took the matter into her own hands. She stood in front of the telly and switched it off, ignoring the cringing look from Ron that she was about to have a war on her hands.

"What do you want?" He snapped, his tone cold.

"Ron and I thought maybe you'd want to come to the ball with us tonight."

Ron blanched. Why was she doing dragging him into this?

"I already told Ron I'm not going," Harry responded, getting annoyed.

"Harry, it's just one night," she pressed. "Even Dumbledore said there would be no harm in you being there with Ginny."

"That's not why I'm not going," he said sulkily.

"We're going to be going now," said Ron, stepping in to rescue Hermione, who was about two seconds away from having a very irate Harry on her hands. "We'll see you later, mate," he finished and all but dragged Hermione from the room. "Next time, listen to me, will ya?" Ron said in a hushed voice once they were out of earshot.

"Maybe I should have said it differently." She chewed her bottom lip, wishing she hadn't just plunged right into the subject of Ginny and got Harry on the defensive right away.

"Believe me, you've said enough," Ron said to her, though there was no reproach in his tone. "You can nag Harry later." He saw the indignant look on her face, but he didn't let her get a word in. "Right now we need to get going otherwise we're going to be late. And you know how much you hate to be late for anything, right?"

Damn Ron for knowing her so well. She also noticed how he was purposely standing in front of her to make sure she didn't go back into the living room. He was looking at her as if her daring her to go past him and if they didn't have somewhere to be she would have challenged him and he knew it. Going against her natural instinct to push Ron's button's she retreated back to the fireplace to floo back to Lupin's.

* * *

Ron had forgotten how much the _Daily Prophet_ enjoyed taking photos at any kind of function the Minister of Magic was involved in. The only consolation was it was nowhere near as bad as during the Minister's Ball when his father had been officially inaugurated. He had to stand on the other side of the room to avoid cameras flashing in his eyes every two seconds. 

He had put on a good show for the first twenty minutes or so, not complaining about his mother fussing over his robes or hair. He plastered a smile on his face for a few photos, making his mum happy. Then his dad got caught up with all these department heads from the Ministry and the Weasley children took that opportunity to escape.

Ron was still waiting for Hermione to show up with Tonks and Lupin. He had gone to meet his parents at Grimmauld Place with his brothers and Ginny, since his mother had insisted it would look much better if they showed up together as a family. At least that had helped to get some of the family photos over and done with soon after they had arrived.

Now that he had successfully snuck away unnoticed, he could announce the call of his growling stomach. Unfortunately, the food looked to consist of mainly high-class dishes that he didn't even know what half the stuff was. He spotted Ginny at a nearby buffet table and weaved his way through the crowds of people to get to her.

If anyone looked like they'd rather be alone in their room sulking than surrounded by a bunch of stuffy office heads it was his sister. Oh, she had put on a show for their parents, smiling and laughing. But now that the camera was off her she was free to go back to her moping state.

"I don't think you want to try any of this stuff, Gin," he said, looking at the unappetizing food.

She pretended not to hear him.

"Come off it, you're too old to give me the silent treatment."

"That's funny, since you and Hermione seem to have it down to an art," she said sharply.

What was she mad at him for anyways? It wasn't like he was the one who said she couldn't see Harry. He would never understand women, not even his own sister.

Ginny saw his eyes keep darting towards the open doorway. "Hermione's going to be here. Staring at the doorway isn't going to get her here any faster."

He was getting tired of dealing with two equally moody people all the time. Harry he could handle for the most part because it was nothing new but Ginny was something else entirely. He often wondered if she was channeling Harry somehow even though they were apart.

"Are you really mad at me or are you just mad you can't have Harry?" The words were out of his mouth before he realized he'd said them and now Ginny was sending him a look eerily reminiscent to their mother's when she was getting ready to tell one of them off.

"Ah, nothing like sibling bickering to liven up a dull party," said Malfoy strolling over.

Ron had forgotten he was there. He really wished they could have just left the Slytherin at Lupin's, but he understood that leaving Malfoy there alone was probably not the best idea. All the information he had given them up to that point had been correct, but Ron was glad to see the Order still didn't trust him.

"Moody told me what I can do if you get out of line," Ron said menacingly.

"You'd love that, wouldn't you? Chance to show off in front of all these reporters," Malfoy baited him.

That more than did it for Ginny who refused to stand there a second longer and listen to their aggravating banter. She left to find one area in the room where she wouldn't be bothered.

* * *

Tonks had quite enough with her two companions that were with her. They were in the main foyer area and close enough to the ballroom that she could hear the music playing inside. 

"I don't know what possessed you two into thinking Harry would feel up to going to the ball," she said, unable to endure the silence any longer.

Remus just looked at her and Hermione stayed quiet.

"Look, he's seventeen and aside from all the normal problems a bloke his age has to go through, he's got a bunch of other nasty issues to deal with, not the least of them being having a dark wizard who wants to kill him. He's not going to get over this thing with Ginny just because you tell him to."

"Maybe you should have been a psychologist, Tonks," Remus muttered.

Before Tonks could say a clever retort back to him, Remus held out both his hands to stop them in their tracks.

"Remus? What is it?" Tonks was already pulling out her wand without waiting for his response.

Remus removed his own wand without answering, scanning the empty foyer ahead of them. This close to a full moon his senses were heightened more than usual. They told him he was in a danger a split second before it happened.

"Get down!" He shouted, dragging Hermione and Tonks behind an empty pillar as several bursts of wand fire came their way.

"There's six of them that I can see," Tonks said, looking out from their hiding spot a second before more wand fire hit the pillar, breaking off more chunks of concrete. "Where the hell are those Aurors Moody posted at the doors?" She yelled angrily.

The location of the ball was supposed to be a secret, so much in fact that the guests had only received the location of it that very morning. The Ministry had wanted to everything possible to avoid a situation like the one they were presently caught in.

Lupin edged near the end of the pillar, devising a strategy. "Stay here!" He hissed to Hermione and Tonks and ran out into the open.

"That's supposed to be my line! Who's the Auror here anyways?" Tonks retorted and jumped out after him. "Hermione, stay there!" She called back to her.

_Brilliant_, Hermione thought,_ I'm the only one here without a wand_. Not that she was supposed to be using magic anyways.

She watched as Remus took down two Death Eaters in quick succession and Tonks got a third one that had been trying to ambush her. Remus took out two more, putting the odds greatly in their favour, when three more Death Eaters apparated. Remus had his back to them, leaving himself completely defenseless as the first curse hit him in the back.

* * *

"Looks like someone isn't feeling too sociable tonight," Malfoy observed, taking notice of Ginny's sudden departure. 

"Can't you go be a git somewhere else?" Ron said, his patience wavering.

"If this place actually had some decent looking birds in it I wouldn't have to waste my time with you."

If Malfoy thought he was going to spend the whole night trying to goad him into losing his temper, he was going to be sorely disappointed. There was no way he was going to let him ruin this evening. He was finally at a ball with a person he should have taken when he was fourteen. Nothing was going to stop him from enjoying this night with Hermione and no one was going to screw it up for him.

Both he and Malfoy spun around at the sound of someone screaming. It only took a second to figure out what all the commotion was about. Death Eaters were charging into the room, firing their wands at anything that moved.

The Aurors in the room and other members from the Ministry pulled out their wands to fight back. By that time, already half a dozen people had fallen.

Ron dived behind a toppled dessert table as a flaming ball of fire was shot his way. When he looked beside him, Malfoy was there as well. Malfoy's wand had fallen from his grasp and landed under the heel of Ron's shoe. Ron picked it up and surveyed the scene in front of him.

"Give me my bloody wand back!" Malfoy screamed at him through the panic.

Ron looked through the ballroom, watching those that had been lucky enough to find cover and those that were still vulnerable. He couldn't see his parents anywhere. He spotted Bill and Charlie side by side taking out hooded figures by a downed table where several couples were hiding.

"Are you deaf? Give me my fucking wand!"

"You better make yourself useful," Ron warned, shoving the wand roughly back into his hands.

"I've been training in the dark arts my whole life. I think I'll be more useful than a wannabe Auror."

Malfoy didn't hang around for Ron's response. He jumped out from their cover and began shouting out a string a string of curses and hexes Ron didn't recognize. But Ron didn't have time to dwell on Malfoy's upbringing in the Dark Arts. At the moment, Malfoy was on their side and though he would die first before admitting it, having someone that skilled would be a benefit.

Ron rolled out from the cover of the table, providing the blood thirsty Death Eaters with yet another target. They weren't the only ones out for blood. They had ruined the first ball he had been excited to go to. He was going to make them pay.

* * *

Hermione and Tonks cried out when Remus took the close range curse to the back and went sprawling into the wall. He crumpled to the ground, not moving. He wasn't dead, the curse that had hit him had not been meant to kill. But if any of those other Death Eaters nearby had anything to say about it, they would kill him right there. 

"Remus, wake up!" Tonks yelled uselessly.

She had her hands full with her own trio of Death Eaters. There would be no way she could come to Remus's rescue, and Hermione was not about to let an innocent man die.

Moving out from the safety of the pillar, she yanked a wand out from the unconscious hands of a fallen Death Eater. She ran towards Remus, shouting, "_Expelliarmus_!" She disarmed a single Death Eater and quickly moved on to the next on. "_Incarcerous_!" She yelled.

The Death Eater Hermione had previously disarmed had grabbed another wand from one of his fallen comrades and now had it trained on her.

* * *

Ron didn't even have time to watch as another Death Eater dropped to the ground from his wand fire. He hexed the two Death Eaters who had their backs to him as they had been preoccupied with other Aurors. 

While Moody was hollering out instructions to the Aurors, Ron spotted Fred and George along with his parents, holding their own in a corner of the room. He needed to take care of the Death Eaters in the immediate area surrounding him, something Malfoy was actively doing.

The Slytherin was heavily outnumbered and yet he continued to knock down Death Eater after Death Eater. Ron, who wasn't at all interested in helping Malfoy but wanting to destroy the immediate threat of Death Eaters, jumped into the fray.

The Death Eaters numbers began to dwindle quickly and no longer where any storming through blown apart ballroom entrance. In all, Ron estimated there were ten or more remaining.

"I don't need your help, Weasley!" Malfoy shouted over the fighting.

"Like I care if you live or die. I'm just doing my job!" Ron yelled back, a split second before he cast a shield charm around himself.

Malfoy just kept on dodging curses as if he had an impenetrable shield around himself. Ron couldn't stop himself from thinking that Malfoy would demand some kind of outrageous compensation for helping them.

Ron forced himself to watch as Malfoy threw an arachnid curse on the Death Eaters, and two three foot long spiders attached themselves to their faces, while the Death Eaters screamed in agony.

Ron turned away feeling thoroughly sick and watched Moody round up the last of the attackers.

Ron thought then they would be able to take the Death Eaters that were alive into custody and beginning helping the injured, but Moody was ordering them out into the foyer.

"There may still be Death Eaters out there. I want ten Aurors with me and the rest stay behind to process Death Eaters and aid the wounded," Moody ordered, his glass eye swiveling in every direction.

Ron volunteered to go with Moody, since his healing skills weren't that great to begin with. With Moody in the lead, they ventured out into the foyer.

* * *

Hermione went to shield Remus's body from the two oncoming Death Eaters, when Tonks apparated in front of her and took them out. 

"Get Remus out of here!" Tonks yelled back to her.

As best as she could, Hermione dragged Remus a short distance away from the fighting. She knew she wouldn't be able to drag him any farther without breaking his arm.

She kept her eyes focused on Tonks. The Auror looked to have everything under control, but the fight became much more one sided when a group of Aurors led by Moody came out to aid Tonks. They blasted away the remaining Death Eaters effortlessly.

Two of the Aurors came over to where she was by Remus.

"We'll look after him now," one of them said, and hooked Remus's arms over their shoulders so they could apparate him out of them.

"Hermione!"

She saw Ron running towards her, concern etched across his features. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, trying to hide her shaking hands. "Remus is the one that got hit. The Aurors apparated him to St. Mungo's."

As if on cue, Healers from St. Mungo's began apparating into the hall. With all the injuries sustained they were at the start of what would be a long night for all.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

With a sigh, Ron sank wearily into the backbreaking waiting room chair. He took a drink from the cup of coffee sitting on his right, grimacing openly at its coldness.

"You can have mine," Hermione said to him. Hers had been sitting untouched for the last ten minutes.

Ron took it from her, trying not to let the thoughts of worry creep into his mind again. Compared to most, he and Hermione had escaped unscathed, with the exception of a ruined pair of dress robes and the odd scrape or bruise. Hermione had been extremely quiet, which was probably partially due to shock and partially because of Remus's condition. He was under close observation and the Healers did not want to risk reviving him until they knew the extent of the damage. When Ron had finally managed to get out of his Auror duties, he had found Hermione in the spell damage ward waiting room.

"Dad's gone back to the Ministry to start an investigation into the attack," he told her.

"Do you have to go in too?"

"Yeah, Moody wants me there in the morning."

Hermione glanced at the clock on the wall, saying, "that's not far off."

"It's not like I can sleep," he said. The events of that night were all too fresh in his mind still. He could picture with perfect detail the positions of the Death Eaters and everyone in the ballroom when the attack had commenced.

She did a very un-Hermione like thing then and didn't press the point or argue further, leaving Ron to wonder if she was a lot more shaken up by than she was letting on.

"Any change?" Tonks asked, walking briskly into the waiting area. She was in her Auror robes now and her normally perfect pink hair was looking frazzled.

"He's still the same," Ron answered.

The Auror's face was expressionless but her eyes gave away how worried she was. "I'm going to go in and see him quickly, then you and I need to get back to the Ministry," she said to Ron.

"Did something else happen? Was there another attack?" Hermione asked.

"No, not an attack, but Jack Anderson is no longer in the Ministry's custody," she said grimly. "He escaped with some help from his Death Eater mates."

"How does a guy escape Auror custody?" Ron demanded, feeling his blood boil.

"Moody's looking into it himself. He thinks it's an inside job."

"A traitor?" Ron said, alarmed.

"It seems likely," Tonks told them. "Only a handful of people outside of the Order knew where Anderson was being kept. It looks like the attack at the ball was just a diversion. Anderson was obviously important to You-Know-Who since he'd been feeding him information on certain projects going on inside the Ministry. Death Eaters aren't known to bust out their own kind once they've been captured. The _Prophet_ is already all over it and the attack. Your dad is going to have a hell of time with all the press this is getting," she finished before walking into Remus's hospital room.

"Are you going to be okay here?" Ron said to Hermione.

She nodded. As much as she wanted him to stay, it wasn't for any logical reason except she wanted him there. But she knew he had other more pressing responsibilities.

"You sure? Because I could talk to Tonks – "

"No, you can't," she cut in, "but I'm fine here, really," she told him, sounding surer this time.

Ron seemed to accept that answer. "At least I didn't ruin it this time," he said with a wry grin. "The ball, I mean," he clarified.

"I think it's safe to say we were never meant to enjoy a ball," she said in response to his comment.

"Actually, I think you've enjoyed them quite a bit," Ron teased.

She expected him to bring up Viktor at that moment because he never passed up an opportunity to do so, so she was thankful when he didn't. "Honestly, I was miserable at them. I just did a good job of hiding it. I've had a lot of practice hiding my feelings," she said, looking at him. She sought out his hand and laid hers on top of it.

Before Ron could get too used to the feel of it, Tonks emerged from Remus's room. He released her hand, sharing a look with herthat meant they would find time later to sort through everything and then left with Tonks.

* * *

Since the Death Eater attack at the Christmas Ball, security around St. Mungo's was tighter than ever. Aurors patrolled in pairs, with two permanently stationed at the main reception desk. Harry was required to sign in and list the patient he was visiting. Since Remus wasn't in critical condition he was only allowed a maximum of three visitors. The nurse at reception reminded him he would have to sign in again at the Healer station when he reached the curse wing. 

He and Ron had finally managed to convince Hermione to go home and get some much needed sleep, saying they would stay with Remus in shifts. Harry had volunteered to do the early evening until two a.m. shift, since he had the day off tomorrow and didn't sleep much these days anyways.

The only bright side to Remus being in the hospital was Tonks had wasted no time in finding another temporary safe house to shove Malfoy. Harry was quite astonished that Malfoy was actually putting up with it all, even though the Order was treating him far better than he deserved.

Harry rode the lift up to the third floor. When he got off he was immediately greeted by a bright, floating florescent sign that read _all visitors are required to sign in at the desk_ with a flashing arrow pointing to the Healer station.

While Harry signed in again, the nurse began carrying on a one-sided conversation about Remus's condition.

"The Healer says his condition is improving. Of course, it's still serious though, because there's no telling what the damage from that awful curse did to him. It's possible he could be permanently – "

Harry wanted to thank whomever it was that had stopped the witch from prattling on uselessly, except piercing screams never turned out to be a good thing.

He pulled out his wand from inside his cloak, just as an orderly came stumbling around the corner, blood spilling from claw like gashes on his face.

"Bloody werewolf!" He cried out in panic. "It's going to tear us apart!"

Those words sent everyone in the immediate vicinity into a screaming frenzy. The unmistakable howl of a werewolf echoed through the corridor. Harry searched for any of the Aurors that were supposed to be on duty and cursed. Of course they were everywhere else except where they were actually needed.

While some barricaded themselves in patient's rooms, others dashed wildly for the lifts. Harry pushed his way through and started running towards the frantic screams. Nurses and orderlies ran past him, most of them helping escort the patients that were capable of walking. They tried to stop Harry from continuing, shouting that he was marching to his death but he pushed them aside. The closer he got to the corridor that Lupin's room was down, the greater the sounds of carnage got.

Though he was prepared for the sight of his former professor fully transformed, it still managed to make him freeze in his tracks. The werewolf was swiping at medical carts and visitor chairs sending them wildly in all directions.

Harry swallowed hard when the werewolf picked up on his scent and growled at him. Harry felt his blood run cold at the crimson colour covering the werewolf's teeth and seeping into its fur. He had already begun feeding.

It moved as if to attack him but stopped, as if an easier meal had been spotted. It started running down the hall and into a room. Harry pursued it, cursing and shouting to get it to come after him instead but it didn't work.

He skidded to a halt in a doorway with a room filled with four beds, each of the occupants lay unmoving even with the loud gnashing of teeth. Harry didn't even hesitate to use his wand.

"_Stupefy_!" He shouted, the spell hitting the werewolf in the back.

The spell didn't even make it falter in the slightest, so Harry repeated the spell again, desperate to get it away from the bed it was towering over. It still didn't succeed in slowing the creature down, but if Harry's goal had been to make it angrier he had succeeded in that respect.

The werewolf had finally decided to take an interest in him and charged forward with its jaws flapping wildly.

"I guess that nurse was wrong about there being any permanent damage," Harry muttered to himself.

Unable to move fast enough, Harry felt something similar to a club smash him in the side before he came crashing down hard on the floor. He wasn't able to dodge the next attack as a pair of claws came scraping across his body, one against his arm the other against the left side of his face. The werewolf grabbed a hold of him like he weighed nothing and threw him against the corridor wall. From the force of the impact, Harry heard several cracks that sounded unmistakably like bones breaking.

He could barely sit up and it hurt to breathe. The creature seemed to pause in its attack, aware that its prey was in no condition to go anywhere.

"Of course you had to wake up in the middle of a full moon," Harry groaned, as he scrambled to find his fallen wand, made that much more difficult by the fact his glasses had fallen off and everything around him was blurry.

But why the Healers had neglected to restrain Lupin when his lycanthropy would have been the first thing to stand out in his medical records escaped Harry.

Without his glasses he was able to see a massive dark blur moving towards him again. He gave up on his wand and focused on what he thought was a set of overturned chairs. They rose off the ground and connected with the moving body of the werewolf. They were smashed to pieces and the creature howled in pain. It stumbled slightly but continued to stalk towards Harry.

With the world still blurry around him, Harry thought he spotted an medical cart lying on the floor. He had to concentrate much harder then before to get it to move. He managed to gather enough force to send it pummeling against the beast, pining it against the wall with a resonating thud.

The werewolf wasn't moving anymore, but Harry could still hear its tiny yelps of pain.

"I'm sorry, Remus," he breathed, clutching his sides.

Harry remained conscious long enough to see the billowing black robes of the Aurors, having followed the path of bloodshed and destruction that had led them to that spot.

* * *

Harry considered turning around and coming back later, but Tonks saw him and waved him in. 

Harry watched as Remus visibly winced at the sight of him, though he didn't look to be fairing much better. Remus was propped up by several pillows, and besides his face looking its normal worn and pale colour as it always did after a full moon, it was covered in tiny gashes.

"Merlin, Harry, you're a sight for sore eyes," Tonks teased, looking him up and down. His left arm was in a sling and the bruising and scratches along his face made him look as if someone had tried to maul him. In a way, that wasn't far from the truth, Harry mused.

"I can come back later," Harry said, darting towards the door.

He hadn't meant to walk in on them looking so _comfortable_.

"Nonsense," said Tonks, jumping to her feet. "I need to get back to the Ministry anyways before Moody starts having a fit and thinks I've been captured. His paranoia has reached an all new high," she finished with a roll of her eyes.

Harry didn't miss the quick squeeze she gave Lupin's hand before she moved away.

"You two play nice and try not to kill each other this time," she added over her shoulder as she walked out.

It was Harry's turn to wince and Remus cleared his throat uncomfortably.

Remus looked over Harry's battered body before turning away and staring at the ceiling. "Harry, I – "

"Remus, please don't," Harry said quickly. He didn't feel very mush like he deserved an apology, when he had probably hurt the older man just as bad in return.

"Harry, I'm not sure what you expect me to say after what you did. I would have killed you if you hadn't stopped me."

"Then it's good for me that werewolves get slower with age," he said with a grin, the first one in days. Then, growing serious again, said, "I didn't hurt you too badly, did I?"

It was Remus's turn to smile. "Let's just say I'm glad there wasn't any larger objects around for you to throw at me."

Harry felt his sudden burst of cheerfulness disappearing and didn't know what else to say. Fortunately for him Remus did.

"I certainly didn't imagine our first real conversation in months to be us apologizing for almost killing each other."

He tried to keep his tone light, but with one look Harry could see how much his continued resentment had hurt him.

"I'm not asking for your forgiveness, because I've never actually forgiven myself. I just want you to understand that I was young and I made a mistake but I never tried to get between James and Lily – nobody could, no matter how hard they tried," he told Harry with a fond smile. "Yes, I was in love with Lily," he admitted, forcing himself to look at Harry as he said it, "she was also one of my best friends and the only thing I wanted was for her to be happy. James was what made her happy, even though she frequently made comments as to how arrogant and pigheaded he could be."

Harry just stood there and listened to him talk.

"Harry, it's all right. You can say whatever it is you're feeling," Lupin encouraged him.

"I don't – I'm not sure what I'm feeling," he faltered.

The older man nodded his head in acceptance, not wanting to push. It finally seemed like Harry was willing to stand being in the same room as him and he wasn't eager to put him back on the defensive.

Remus didn't let him hang around there long. Though he was confined to a bed and Harry was able to walk around, he looked to be the worse off of the two. Harry finally agreed to go home, only after promising to come back first thing in the morning.

When Harry got home, he wondered why he had protested so hard to stay. It was too painful to lie down, so he went into the living room and put a couple of pillows behind his back before gingerly sitting down on the couch.

The Healers had given him some pain relieving potions but he refused to take them. They tasted awful and he'd rather take a couple of muggle aspirins then something as potent and addictive as those potions.

A brief burst of green flame erupted in the fireplace and Ginny emerged from it. Harry tried to move but only ended up hurting himself more instead.

"You shouldn't be here," he hissed through the pain.

Ginny would have been offended if she had not been expecting that reaction. "I just wanted to see that you were all right." _Which you clearly aren't_, she added giving him a quick once over. "Do you need anything?"

"No," he replied, his defenses on full alert.

"So you just want me to go then?"

Harry's eyes darkened. "This isn't a game, Ginny. We're supposed to stay away from each other, and you – you're making this harder." He shut his eyes, hoping that if she could feel how badly he wanted her to stay she could also feel his resolve that she needed to be away from him for her own good.

He felt the cushions shift beneath him as she sat down on the couch beside him.

"Harry, I feel fine now."

He opened his eyes and his expression showed that he didn't believe her.

"Okay, I can't feel anyone except you," she confessed. "But Dumbledore said this might happen."

"And you think it's a good idea for us to be around each other again?"

"I'm starting to regret coming here, actually."

Against his better judgment, he reached over with his uninjured hand and rested it atop hers. "I just don't want to hurt you," he said, his voice heavy with emotion.

"You're not right now," she said softly. "It's not hurting me being with you here just like this."

Harry lost the battle raging inside himself. Instead of doing the right thing, the thing he knew he had to do, he let Ginny stay with him.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

Remus scanned the shelves of his vast book collection until he found what he was looking for. He didn't think anything of stretching up to reach it, but the splintering pain in his side stopped him in half stride.

"I thought the Healer said you supposed to be resting," Hermione's voice sounded from the doorway.

"I am," he assured her, taking the book and sinking into a nearby armchair. "I just had a momentary memory lapse where I had forgotten I had my ribs crushed."

"You could have just used magic," she said to him.

He smiled despite the pain. "That would be a bit hypocritical of me, don't you think?"

She gave a tiny shrug in response and let it go at that. "Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

She was almost out of there when he spoke again, causing her to stop.

"I think those were the most words you've spoken to me since I've been home," he noted. "Is there something on your mind, Hermione?"

She bit her lower lip, silently debating whether to say anything to him. She could still recall how angry and disappointed he'd been with her when he found out everything she had been doing with magic and told her she needed to stop. She had finally been making some real progress in getting over her so-called magic dependency and then with barely any conscious thought had used magic in the Death Eater fight at the Christmas Ball. She had been keeping the incident to herself. She knew Ron would just worry about her and Harry was having his own crisis, which left her with no one to talk to.

"Hermione?" Said Remus, sounding concerned now.

She focused on a spot on the carpet, so she wouldn't have to look at him when she spoke. "I used magic when you were attacked at the Ministry Ball."

"I see," was Remus's response, though his expression was unreadable.

"I didn't give it a second thought or anything. I just saw you go down and I picked up a loose wand and used it. I don't think Tonks saw anything because she already had her hands full." She knew she was rambling by that point, but couldn't stop herself. She had been living with the guilt of it for days, and despite how disappointed she knew Remus would be, it felt like a herd of hippogriffs had been lifted off her chest.

"Have you used any magic since then?" He asked when she had finished.

She shook her head.

"So then you broke your promise not to use magic because lives were in jeopardy?"

When he said it like that it didn't sound so bad, but if it wasn't, how come she felt like this? "I know it was a dire situation, but I didn't even consider any other options. It was just like before where I was using magic to solve any problem."

Remus closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "Do you want to be punished, Hermione?" He opened his eyes and regarded her closely.

"I – I don't know," she responded uncertainly.

"Because it sounds to me like you've already punished yourself enough," he said in return. "I know I was rather adamant about you staying away from magic for awhile, and that was because I needed you to see the path you were heading down – what you would become if you didn't stop. I didn't say you could never practice magic again. Perhaps all you need is the right teacher."

She understood his meaning clearly. "You want to be my professor again?"

Remus chuckled. "It's not what you think. I know you don't need any sort of remedial lessons or the like. But I know, unlike Ron and Harry you're interested in taking your N.E.W.T.s, and despite what you've done at the Ministry you still have much to learn. You haven't even studied human Animagus transformations or advanced level defense against the dark arts."

"You think that I'm all right to start practicing magic again?"

"Hermione, I don't even know if having you stop using magic in the first place was the right thing to do. I think you're an intelligent enough young woman that you can learn from your past mistakes and judge if you're ready to take the next step in your magical education."

He knew if he phrased it like that – like a challenge – it would be the only way she would get over her fears and accept his offer. She didn't disappoint him.

"What exactly did you have in mind?" She asked, her curiousity already getting the better of her.

"On Monday you'll find out," he told her.

* * *

Harry wasn't sure why Mackenzie had sent a Ministry owl to his house with a note telling him to come down to the Auror department as soon as he received it. It was his day off, and if he had learned anything during his time at the Ministry, getting called into work in such an official way on your day off was not a good sign. 

Once inside the Ministry, he went through the standard security check before catching a lift up to the Auror department. He wasn't surprised to find a skeleton staff of Aurors in the department. After the Death Eater attack at the Christmas Ball and the escape of Jack Anderson, Moody probably had everyone working the field; not wanting to give Voldemort's followers a chance to plan another coordinated attack.

He rapped his knuckles against Mackenzie's closed door, who responded immediately.

"Come in!" Her voice barked from inside her office.

Harry gripped the door handle and strode inside.

"Shut the door, Potter."

He did as he was told before taking a standing position in front of her desk.

"Your response time is better than some of the veteran Aurors around here," she remarked, as she shut the folder on her desk labeled CLASSIFIED.

Harry said nothing. Mackenzie was not one to tip toe around an issue. He just wanted her to get on with explaining why he was there.

"Has Alastor spoken to you at all?" She questioned him.

Harry knew for sure then that something was. Mackenzie never referred to Moody by his first name. He shook his head to indicate no.

Mackenzie made a derisive noise. "Of course he would make a decision like this and leave me to explain it to you."

"What decision?" Harry demanded, feeling like he had already been more than patient.

"I'm having you removed from active duty," she informed him.

Of all the things he had been expecting it had not been that. "Why?" He rasped, barely able to find his voice. What could Moody have possible said to her to make her do this?

"Potter, I think you know why."

"Well, I don't, so why don't you explain it to me." He was fuming at this point, and knew with his last remark how close he was to bordering on insubordination.

Mackenzie, who seemed to understand the outrage he was feeling, gave him some leeway. "There has been an armload of Death Eater activity since their attack at the Christmas Ball. As for the investigation into the escape of Jack Anderson, it has so far resulted in no leads as to who's responsible. Both of these locations were supposed to be a secret and the fact that Moody, who is heading up both investigations, is no closer to finding out what happened has a lot of upper echelons in the Ministry concerned."

"I already know all this," said Harry. "But what does it have to with – " he halted in mid thought, understanding finally dawning on him but he did not like where his thoughts had led him one bit. "He thinks I had something to do with both incidents?" He had not thought it impossible for his fury to grow any further, but there he was ready to explode.

"Potter, it's on your record that You-Know-Who has possessed you before. He's even tried more subtle approaches like looking into your mind when you're asleep and drawing out pieces of information when you're the most vulnerable."

Harry's head was spinning. The Ministry had a record of all these things? "That's why I've had Occlumency training, so I can prevent Voldemort from seeing into my mind."

"But you stopped Occlumency months ago, isn't that right?"

"I think I would know if someone was messing with my head," he told her, wondering exactly how Mackenzie had all this information on him.

"Can you be absolutely certain about that?" She asked, giving him a penetrating look.

Of course there was no way to be one hundred percent certain that Voldemort couldn't sneak a peek into his mind whenever he fancied and his silence confirmed that.

"Have you seen what's going on out there? You need me," Harry said, making one final attempt to get Mackenzie to come around.

"To agree with your assessment of the current state of things, yes, it's gotten worse, and that means you've got more of a price on your head than ever before. I'm sorry, Potter, but I can't take the chance that you'll be putting your partner or any other Aurors at unnecessary risk."

She turned back to her paperwork, grabbing another file folder off the top of her pile. "Shut the door on you way out," she said, signaling the end of the conversation.

Harry, having no other choice left to him, walked out of Mackenzie's office.

* * *

Hermione divided her attention between reading the book in her hands and watching Ron flip through the channels on the telly, looking for something to watch. Normally, she would be able to tune out any unwanted distractions, but not on that evening. She wanted to tell him Remus was going to supervise her N.E.W.T. level education, but wasn't quite sure how he would respond to that news. 

She decided to finally put aside her misgivings and broach the subject to him. "Remus thinks I'm ready to start using magic again," she blurted out.

Ron settled on a channel, but didn't pay attention to the program playing on the screen. "So he thinks that after a month you're all better?"

"You make it sound like I had some kind of dreadful disease."

"What do you call it then?" He said, turning his head to look at her. "You were using magic for everything and didn't have the power to stop yourself."

"I wasn't – I – " She stopped herself, realizing that his assessment was valid, and tried a different approach. "I'm doing this because I want to take my N.E.W.T.s. They may not matter to you, but they're important to me."

"And your starting up with magic again has nothing to do with the fact that you can't stand how everyone else is putting themselves in danger to help the war effort?" He asked, knowing the N.E.W.T.s were only a small reason behind her insistence to work with their former Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"Of course it's important for me to do my part," she replied, not the least bit flustered by his comment. "I feel useless, and I'm sick of feeling that way."

"You're not the only one feeling that way," said a new voice.

Ron and Hermione turned at the sound of Harry's voice, both a bit startled at not hearing him enter the house.

"Where'd you go?" Ron asked, hoping to engage him in a conversation before he disappeared into his 'fortress of solitude' again to mope about Ginny.

"I went to see Mackenzie," he told them. "She sent an owl asking me to come down to the Ministry."

"That's rather rare, isn't it?" Said Hermione. "I mean they don't usually send out Ministry owls for no reason. What did she want?"

Harry flopped down in a chair opposite his friends, saying, "we skipped the small talk and got right into how I'm too much of a liability to continue being an Auror at the present time."

"She didn't!" Hermione cried in disbelief. "The Auror numbers are still fairly low, even though they've adjusted some of their requirements."

"I don't think that much matters to Mackenzie, especially since it was an order from Moody," Harry responded.

"Moody told her to sack you?" Ron said, outraged.

"Moody thinks I may be leaking information to Voldemort unintentionally," said Harry, looking at his friends.

"You haven't had any nightmares or visions have you?" Hermione asked him.

"No," he answered immediately. "I haven't so much as felt my scar twinge in days," he told them.

"Then you're not the one who's been feeding You-Know-Who information," Ron said simply, as if that decided everything.

"But how else would he have known about the location of the Ball or where Jack Anderson was being kept?" Harry said, suddenly not feeling so sure. "Moody has been investigating the two incidents for weeks and has found nothing to show that the Aurors or someone else collaborated with the Death Eaters. Aside from the three of us, only six other people knew where Jack Anderson was being kept and Moody has already questioned all of them. I think Moody suspects that Ron and I knew where he was, he just can't prove it."

"Harry, none of that proves anything. Moody's just following his own paranoia since he can't find any concrete evidence of a traitor," Hermione said reasonably.

"It doesn't disprove anything either," said Harry stubbornly.

"What about all the Order meetings you've been a part of?" Hermione said, refusing to fall into Moody's line of thinking. "You know as much as anyone else and how come that information hasn't been used?"

"I don't know," Harry said shrugging. "Maybe he can only pick up certain pieces of information from me, or maybe he doesn't think the Order stuff is relevant."

Hermione sat in contemplation for several moments before saying, "there might be one way to figure out if Voldemort can get into your mind."

"How?" Said Harry and Ron at the same time.

"If you talked to an accomplished Legilimens he would be able to look into your mind and see if there's any weak spots that Voldemort might be able to penetrate. I know Snape is awful," she continued, seeing the scowl plant itself on Harry's face, "but if it would give you piece of mind and show Moody you can be trusted, isn't worth a try?"

"I suppose," Harry grumbled, not too keen on the idea. Snape had made it perfectly clear he would not help him in any way, shape or form ever again, and just the thought of having to grovel to that slimy git for anything made his insides churn. No, he was just going to have to find some other way of knowing if he was a threat to his friends and the Order.

* * *

Ginny opened the door to her room after hearing the low knocking against it. She was sure she hadn't imagined it, but there was no one standing in the hallway. She went to close the door when she felt something invisible brush passed her. 

"Aren't you taking a bit of risk sneaking up here in the middle of the day?" Ginny said, once the door was shut.

"I know, but I wanted to see you," said Harry, removing his invisibility cloak. "I know I haven't been around much these last few days."

She gave a brief smile. "It's perfectly understandable considering we're not supposed to see each other."

"So you're okay?" He asked, afraid that their encounter from a few nights ago would have set off the empath abilities within her again. He knew she was still being affected by him, but as long as she wasn't picking up on the feelings of others around they weren't taking a step backwards.

"Can't you tell?" She said playfully but Harry just scowled. "Harry, what's wrong?" She narrowed her eyes and said, "you're – " She almost said he was purposely blocking his mind from her but she was afraid to voice that she was still connected to him even when he already knew that.

"What are we going to do about this?" He asked her, sitting on her bed. As much as he wanted to be with Ginny, he needed to put her safety above all else.

"We could go to Remus," Ginny suggested, sinking on to the bed beside him.

Harry looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "He thinks we've been staying away from each other. When he finds out we haven't – "

"Maybe there's something he can do."

"If there was, he would have suggested it in the first place or Dumbledore would have."

"Maybe they didn't know what else to do and that seemed like the safest solution at the time. I don't really fancy Remus knowing about our personal life either, but unless you're content to keep sneaking around, and maybe make whatever this is worse again – we should explain the situation to him."

"All right," Harry agreed lying back on the bed. Though he was still not fully convinced it was the right thing to do. Then again, continuing to sneak around probably wasn't the best solution either. "But can it wait until tomorrow?" He rather liked the idea of spending one more night pretending there was nothing wrong with what they were doing.

"That's fine with me," Ginny agreed, snuggling up next to him.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Remus was sipping his tea and going through the latest edition of the _Daily Prophet_ when Ginny walked into the kitchen with Harry. Remus, though thrown off guard by the sight before him, continued to read his paper nonchalantly. "Good morning, Ginny, Harry," he said.

"You look a lot better today, Remus," Ginny commented, joining him at the table, while Harry seemed to prefer standing. "Did you need me to go to the store and get anything for you?"

Remus folded up the paper this time and stared at Ginny then at Harry. He should have suspected something like this from the beginning. Whatever they were here to tell him, Ginny already knew it was not going to go over well otherwise she wouldn't have made that offer.

"Is there something you two want to tell me?" He asked, trying hard to keep the suspicion out of his voice. He tried not to think the worst when Ginny gave Harry a look like he should say something and the teen pretended not to notice.

Sighing, Ginny turned back to Lupin and said quickly, "Harry and I have been seeing each other."

"I see," he responded, though he had already gathered that much himself.

"It's only happened in the last week," she hurried on. "It's not that we don't respect what you and Dumbledore said and your reasons for us not being involved, it's just – we can't," she finished, as if that were a good enough explanation.

"Are the effects still the same?" He asked them.

"Yes," Harry finally spoke up.

"_No_," Ginny said immediately after, causing Harry to look sharply at her. "Before, I could feel everyone's emotions around me, now it's just Harry's."

Remus took a long sip from his tea, carefully pondering his next question. "Are you, ah, involved the same way as before?" The embarrassment he felt in asking was nothing compared to the mortified looks that appeared on both the teen's faces. "I'll take that as a yes," he said a second later.

"So you're not upset?" Ginny said, her eyes hopeful.

"Upset? No," he replied. "To be honest, I'm surprised you stayed away from each other as long as you did," he said, letting out the tiniest of smiles.

"What happens now?" Harry asked him.

"Well," Lupin began, looking thoughtful, "Harry, we've known for quite some time you've had some sort of emotional connection with Ginny even before your relationship started. It was just never consciously returned by Ginny until recently," he said, avoiding the specific facts that would undoubtedly embarrass them all again. "Ginny's condition was similar to yours before you learned how to control your powers. But after awhile her connection with everyone else faded but remained with you. Is that correct, Ginny?"

"Yes," she answered, nodding.

"Then it's entirely possible what's happening would have happened eventually. You can't read each other's thoughts, just strong feelings or sparks of emotions. And just like Harry's powers, your _link_ will very likely dissolve after Voldemort's defeat."

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Remus," Dumbledore's voice sounded from the kitchen doorway.

"I didn't know you were stopping by, Albus," Remus said to him.

"I was on my way to Phoenix Headquarters, but thought I'd stop by here first," he explained, though he did not offer up any reason for being there. "If you don't mind my saying so, I think we've all overlooked a very important aspect of this connection between Harry and Miss Weasley."

Harry, for his part, decided to at least listen to what Dumbledore had to say. If he was suddenly changing his mind about things, it wouldn't hurt to hear him out.

Seeing that he had their attention, Dumbledore continued, "Perhaps we were all too hasty to jump to the conclusion that this connection is a bad thing. Now that Miss Weasley does not seem to be demonstrating any kind of emotional powers aside from her link with Harry, it could be used as a form of protection."

"Protection?" Harry echoed, not sure if he was going to like where Dumbledore was going with this.

"Even if Miss Weasley here is only able to sense powerful emotions such as fear and anger, it would be a useful tool for determining if you are in any sort of danger. This type of protection can work both ways, Harry. Since your mind powers are much stronger, the link you have with Miss Weasley would let you know instantly if she was in any trouble."

Ginny looked at Harry and could already see Dumbledore's words taking effect. She really wished their old Headmaster hadn't mentioned the part about the protection being two-sided. Now Harry would probably want to check on her safety whenever she was out of eyesight. She didn't plan on allowing that to happen.

"It's very important that Voldemort does not find about this. Harry already knows how deadly it can be to have someone else being able to access your mind and plant images there. Miss Weasley, you should at least learn to build up some barriers around your mind."

"You mean like Occlumency?" Ginny said.

"Similar to that, yes, but not nearly as complicated. You simply need to learn some basic techniques to keep Harry's thoughts from interfering with your own and vice versa, otherwise it could start getting uncomfortable. Harry can teach you some simple shielding techniques to keep out obtrusions and other influences."

Harry hardly considered himself qualified to teach Ginny even the most simplest of mind shielding techniques. Even more so now that there was some question as to if Voldemort was catching glimpses of his mind without him knowing it. Maybe he was going to have to see Snape after all. He needed to know if he would be putting Ginny at risk.

Dumbledore seemed to know what he was thinking and said, "Harry, I have every confidence in your abilities. You studied under one of the best Legilimens in the last century, which is part of the reason why you're so skilled at Occlumency. The other part is just natural talent, of course."

Harry supposed that counted for something if Dumbledore wasn't lecturing him about giving up Occlumency and believed in his abilities. He just wished he had as much faith in himself as Dumbledore did.

"Well, if there are no other questions, I should be off," said Dumbledore.

"Why did this happen?" Harry asked before he could leave.

"I'm sure the reason is rather obvious," Dumbeldore began, smiling. "But I do suspect you and Miss Weasley would be much happier discovering it on your own."

Dumbledore left then, leaving both Harry and Ginny confused at his cryptic statement. When Harry looked at Lupin he seemed the only one to have perfectly understood what Dumbledore had said.

* * *

Hermione stared at the items assembled on her bed, trying to decide what to bring down with her fot her first N.E.W.T. lesson with Remus. She didn't want to seem over eager, but it was kind of hard not to. She really wanted to do this. Even if there wasn't a Ministry left after the war, she wanted to be able to say she had officially completed her magical education. 

Then again, she didn't know why she was making such a fuss. It wasn't as if she was going away to school, she was just going downstairs and if she needed anything she could always run back up to her room. Remus had been extremely vague with his instructions, so he probably wasn't expecting her to bring anything. Even if this wasn't a proper learning setting, Hermione did not want to be caught unprepared. In the end she decided on bringing her book bag down with her, which carried a few quills and notebooks of parchment. She hesitated before adding her wand, but if she wasn't ready to use that again, there was no point in even doing this.

Since Remus had refused to take it away from her, going on about how she needed to trust herself, it had sat at the bottom of her nightstand for weeks. She pulled it out and added it to her bag before heading downstairs.

When she was in the front hallway, she could hear voices coming from the dining room. She could make out the rough voice as Moody's and the feminine one as Tonks. She went to investigate, finding the adults locked in an intense conversation, standing around the dining room table. In addition to Moody and Tonks, Kingsley Shackabolt was there and so was Lupin.

They all stopped talking when they saw her. It was obviously private whatever they were talking about, so she backed out the room saying, "sorry, I'll come back."

"No, Hermione, stay," said Tonks, giving her a welcoming smile. "If this is about you then you should have a say," she said, turning a look on Moody who gazed back unflinchingly.

"What's this about?" She tried to ask casually. She already knew what this was about. They had found out she was going to be doing magic again and didn't think it was such a good idea and they were here to try and talk Lupin out of it. She glanced at Lupin, who appeared to be a bit agitated but that was all.

"It's about when you went missing when you were and Ron were using those charms," Tonks said to her.

"I don't understand," she said, feeling somewhat confused. "I already told you I don't remember anything before waking up in St. Mungo's."

"Have you tried?" Kingsley asked her.

"Of course I've tried," she told him. Albeit, it had only been a few times and never for more than a few minutes. She supposed it was because she was frightened about what she was going to find. If it hadn't affected her so far, she wasn't too eager to learn more.

"Alastor, we've been through this before," said Lupin, coming to her aid. "There is probably a very good reason why Hermione can't remember anything from that day. To try to force it out of her – "

"No one's going to force anything out of her, Remus," Tonks interjected. "This has to be Hermione's choice."

"What's my choice?" Hermione demanded, not appreciating being talked over as if she wasn't in the room.

"It's very possible that based on how long you were gone and where the Aurors found you, you spent that entire day in the custody of Death Eaters," Moody said to her. "That means you could have some knowledge in your mind that could be of use to the Order."

"Or you're just going to make her relive something horrible and find nothing you can use," Remus countered.

Moody's glass eye swiveled over to rest on Remus. "I thought this was Granger's choice?" Keeping his real eye on Hermione, he said, "it's possible we could find out strategic plans, new names of Death Eaters or even other cell here in Britain."

"I still don't understand what you want me to do if I can't remember anything," she said to Moody. There were no spells for finding lost memories that she knew of.

"It's still a somewhat experimental procedure," Tonks began. "It can be done at St. Mungo's. There'd be a small chance of brain damage – "

"No," Hermione said fiercely before the Auror could even finish.

Moody fixed her with a cold, piercing stare. "Are you saying that out of loyalty to Potter?"

"What does Harry have to do with this?" Lupin wanted to know.

"Moody made sure Harry got sacked as an Auror and thinks I won't help because I want to get back at him," Hermione filled him in. She might be loyal to Harry but there was a war going on and she wasn't going to be so petty as to have her reason for refusing to do that _procedure_ as a way to get back at Moody.

Lupin's eyes were as wide as saucers. "What did you do, Alastor?"

"It's highly possible Potter is leaking information to the Dark Lord."

"I don't believe this," Lupin said, shaking his head. "Things aren't going the way we would like and the first thing you do is turn your suspicions on Harry."

"When I ran my investigation, everyone else turned up clean. That leaves Potter, who knew the exact same information and it's common knowledge You-Know-Who has been in his head before and extracted information."

"Maybe you need to run your investigation again," Lupin said calmly. "What are you going to do next? Kick him out of the Order?"

"It hasn't been decided yet if Potter's Order status should be revoked," Moody said in equally a calm voice.

Lupin's eyes narrowed. "Decided by whom? The same people who decided to remove Harry from the Ministry? Any decisions affecting members lives are supposed to be voted on by the entire Order."

"When certain members have become comprised – "

"Comprised?" Lupin cried incredulously.

"What else would you call it, Lupin?" Moody said, his own temper shining through. "_You_ treat Potter like he's your son and the Weasley's treat him like he's one of their own. Therefore, your judgment when it comes to him is clouded and cannot be trusted."

"I take it Arthur and Molly didn't know about you making sure Harry was sacked, either?

"They know now," was Moody's gruff response.

"Are you trying to make up for the fact that you couldn't figure out Peter was the traitor last time that you're willing to pin this all on Harry?" Lupin accused.

That accusation did not sit well with Moody, who looked ready to pull out his wand and may very well have if Tonks had not stepped in.

"Mad-Eye, I think it's time to go," she said sternly.

She waited until Moody had finished staring down Lupin and was moving into the hallway before her and Kingsley followed.

"Hermione, just think about what we said," Tonks said to her before leaving. "Remus can explain the whole procedure to you, and if you still decide you don't want to do it, that's fine."

When they were gone, Lupin slumped down at the table saying, "I'm sure he doesn't even think there's anything wrong with what he did. But I never thought Tonks would go along with something like that, though…" He trailed off, staring at the far corner of the room.

"I'm sure Harry meant to tell you," Hermione said, taking a seat at the other end of the table. "It just happened yesterday. He just probably has a lot on his mind right now."

"It's all right, Hermione," Lupin assured her. "I know Harry would have said something once he was ready." He grabbed the stack of books on table near him and got up to pass them to her. "I might as well give you these," he began. "This is everything you'll need for your N.E.W.T. level studies. I think you're well past the point where I would need to teach you on a one-on-one basis. You can work at your own pace and this is your assignment list," he said, pulling out a piece of parchment from inside one of the books covers. "I'll grade your assignments and give you your tests but I think that's the extent at which you need me in a professor capacity. The ministry gives N.E.W.T. examinations in December and June. I know it's only January, but you may be pushing yourself to try and get all of this done, plus revising in time for June examinations."

"What about practical work?" She asked. She didn't want to seem too eager to practice magic but she knew the N.E.W.T. exams were just like the OWLs in that they had a theory and practical portion.

"I'm sure Ron and Harry would be willing to practice with you. They'll know all the spells because of the training they've been through. Ginny would also make a good partner, even though she's a year behind."

"What's this procedure Moody wants me to go through with?" She asked suddenly.

"It's pretty much what Tonks said," he started, pulling up a chair beside her. "It's experimental at best. It's similar to what muggles call hypnosis. I know how it sounds," he said, smiling at her reaction, "but I've read some articles about it and some of the limited success they've had. Right now, there's about a sixty percent success rate and those odds can be made even better depending on the age and health of the person it's being used on."

Hermione was skeptical to say the least. "Hypnosis is not even a standard accepted practice in the muggle world. There have been people known to have faked being under hypnosis and they haven't even been able to prove that those who said they were under it, were in fact really under the influence. It's something that's used for entertainment purposes more than anything else."

"Some Healers have taken the muggle theory behind hypnosis and altered it somewhat to achieve more reliable results."

"How?" Though she was far from a believer in hypnosis, she couldn't help but be a bit enthralled by it.

"For starters, they use Veritaserum. Only in smaller amounts and they dilute it so its affects only last about an hour. Since Veritaserum is a Ministry controlled serum, the project works under Ministry approval in order for them to legally use it. Veritaserum serves two purposes. First, because it is a truth-telling serum, they can tell right away if the subject in question is faking. Secondly, because of its truth-telling properties, it stimulates the part of the brain devoted to memory, which is how it's supposed to help the individual remember. It gets a bit dangerous because some people require more Veritaserum to stimulate lost or repressed memories. In larger doses Veritaserum can cause nerve or brain damage, and that's just one of the many reasons on a long list of why the Ministry prohibits its use."

"But it's been known to work?"

Lupin nodded. "There have been reports about people who suffered memory loss because of a spell gone wrong and were able to recover fragments of their memory but not everything. There's also those who, for one reason or other, no matter what the Veritaserum dose, could not recall anything." Lupin could already see the wheels turning in her head over it, so he said, "Hermione, before you decide anything, you need to really think about this. It's still likely that some, if not all of your memory from that day will come back to you in time. It could be something as simple as a side effect from the charm because you wore it longer than Ron. Even if you were to remember, the information retained could be useless. The point is, in order to access that information you be forced to relive some pretty horrific things – things that may have subconsciously repressed to protect yourself."

Hermione stared at the mountain of textbooks in front of her, and suddenly the idea of taking her N.E.W.T.s didn't weigh as heavily on her mind as before. Now all she could think about it was if she was finally ready to recover her lost memories and accept what she would find.

* * *

Harry was attempting to clean the disarray his house had become over the last several weeks, when green flames began to gather in the fireplace, resembling the face of Mrs. Weasley. 

"Hello, Harry, dear," said the head of Mrs. Weasley. "Are you terribly busy?"

"No, not really," he answered.

"Would you mind flooing over to Remus's for a few minutes?"

He nodded saying, "sure."

Mrs. Weasley beamed. "See you shortly."

Then her head disappeared and Harry's fireplace was empty again.

When he flooed to Lupin's a minute later, the living room was empty, but Mrs. Weasley's voice called to him. "We're in the kitchen, Harry."

Harry found the kitchen. Inside both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were sitting down and Ginny sat across from them.

"Good to see you, Harry," Mr. Weasley greeted him. "Please, have a seat."

He pulled up a chair next to Ginny, and was glad to note he was not the only one a bit puzzled by all this.

"First, Harry," Mrs. Weasley began, "Arthur and I wanted to say how sorry we are with everything that happened at the Ministry. Mad-Eye was clearly out of line – "

"Molly," Mr. Weasley gently warned, nudging his wife.

Mrs. Weasley stopped talking but the damage was already done as Harry could feel Ginny's eyes fixated on him.

"The reason we asked you both here," Arthur took over for his wife, "is because its come to our attention that you are in a relationship now – "

"Oh god," Ginny muttered.

"Ginny, language," her mother admonished.

"Dad, I think Harry and I are responsible enough that we don't need a _talk_."

"That's not what this is about, Ginevra."

That made Ginny halt in her protests. Her parents never called her by her full name, except those half a dozen time growing up when she and Ron had gotten themselves into mischief that rivaled even that of the twins.

"Harry, please don't misinterpret what I'm about to say," Mr. Weasley said to him. "Molly and I are very happy for you and Ginny, but we do have some concerns."

"Go on," Harry said, his throat suddenly very dry.

"We know that you can't help what's going on with You-Know-Who," Arthur started, "but Ron and Hermione have become targets of Voldemort because of how close they are to you. However, they don't yet know what Ginny means to you, so she's still relatively safe. Perhaps it would be in your best interests if you two continued to keep things between yourselves for the time being."

"When we're out in public together, nothing will have changed. We'll be careful," Harry assured the Weasley's. He wanted to keep Ginny safe as much as they did. Even more so because he had been putting their son's life in mortal danger for the last seven years.

Both her parents seemed to accept that answer, for Mr. Weasley was already moving on to his next area of concern.

"There's also some concern about these mind abilities Ginny has inherited from you. We understand that it no longer affects her contact with others but she still seems to be connected to you. It's not that we think you would intentionally put her in danger, but we need to be sure You-Know-Who will not find out about this connection you share."

"He won't," Harry promised and immediately regretted doing so. He still wasn't sure Voldemort wasn't breaking into his mind some other way. "I know I stopped Occlumency but Dumbledore feels my defenses are strong enough, and I can teach Ginny a few basic techniques to guard her thoughts as well."

"Harry, we're sorry we cornered you like this," Mrs. Weasley said a moment later. "We already knew you would never purposely endanger Ginny, we just needed a little reassurance."

"It's okay," Harry said, his voice low.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley seemed ready to leave now that Harry had assured them he wouldn't do anything that would put Ginny's life in danger. While they said their good-bye's, Harry sat there feeling awful for not being completely honest with them.

When the Weasley's were gone, he felt Ginny hit him hard in the shoulder. "What was that for?" He said, looking at her.

"Why couldn't you have been this talkative when we went to Remus? You seemed willing to say nothing then when I was trying to convince him that we shouldn't be apart and now you might as well have just told my parents we shouldn't be together," she said, furious.

"Gin, they have every right to worry about you. It's not as if I've kept your brother out of trouble in all the years I've known him."

"You didn't even let me get a word in! You just jumped right into the protector role where you're so comfortable."

"Your parents mean a lot to me, Ginny. I wasn't going to let them think I was going to be irresponsible about us."

"What happened at the Ministry?" Ginny asked abruptly.

Harry sighed. "Moody had Mackenzie sack me because he thinks I'm a liability now when it comes to Voldemort."

"When did this happen?"

"Er, yesterday," he said. "I meant to tell you but there was a lot going on."

"Do Ron and Hermione know?"

He knew that was her way of asking if he told them first. He resisted the sudden impulse to say _of course,_ _they're my best friends_ because that would not go over well. "Yeah, I told them."

"It's good you feel you can go to them with something so important," she said, standing.

"Ginny, I was going to tell you."

"I know you were going to. It just would have been after everyone else," she said and walked out.

HermioneBrazil: Wow… you've definitely got it right ;)


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Hermione was trying to read the book she had signed out from the wizarding library in town, but a pair of all too obvious cobalt eyes were staring at her, trying to get her attention.

"Ron, I'm trying to finish this chapter," she warned without looking up.

"You've been at that for hours," he whined.

"It's only been twenty minutes."

"Well, it feels a lot longer than that."

"That's because you're just lying there, staring at me," she admonished.

"What did you expect?" He said, propping himself up on one elbow on the bed. "I come home after a hard day's work to find you sitting on my bed but all you want to do is homework."

"I'm sorry to have built up your hopes but it was quiet here, so I came here to read."

"So how much longer do you think you're going to be?" He asked after a long stretch of silence.

"Ron!" She tried to sound stern but with only marginal success.

"I see I'm already starting to break through that tough, academic exterior of yours," he said, giving her a lopsided grin.

"You're a horrible influence," she said, biting her lip to keep from smiling.

"One you don't seem to mind," he said sitting up and wrapping his arms around her waist. He rested his head on her shoulder. "What are you reading anyways?"

"It's about hypnosis," she said to him.

"Hypnosis?" He said sounding surprised. "Isn't that in the same league as Divination? I wouldn't think you'd be interested in that."

"I'm not – I mean I wasn't until yesterday."

"Why? What's changed?"

"Since everyone seems to think this may be the key to helping me remember what happened before the charm stopped working."

Hermione didn't like to talk about that day. While she had still been in St. Mungo's, Ron had tried to get her to remember but she would just get frustrated and not want to talk about it. He was surprised she would even consider doing something as dodgy as this.

"And hypnosis is what's going to do that?" He sounded every bit as skeptical as she had when she had first found out about it.

Hermione put the book down in her hands and began telling him about the procedure Remus had explained to her, along with the risks involved. She pulled out a couple of articles from her book bag to explain some of the incidents in which it had already been used, even though it was only marginally successful in a handful of cases. She also told him Moody wanted her to do this because he thought it might provide the Order with strategic information.

"I know you've done your research, but are you sure you want to do something like this?"

"I haven't decided anything yet," Hermione replied. "And it's not just because of the risks involved with the Veritaserum. I'm just not sure if I want to know what happened," she admitted. She couldn't help but think about what Remus had said about her mind naturally suppressing those memories as a means of protecting her.

"The hell with Moody," said Ron. "You don't need to do this. The Order has other informants and contacts it can go to. You don't even know if you're even going to find anything useful.

"Ron, even if there's a remote chance it could help I should do it."

"I don't even know why we're still talking about this because it sounds like you've already made up your mind."

He didn't sound angry but he didn't sound overly thrilled about what she wanted to do either. But he knew once she got an idea in her head he'd have better luck convincing Malfoy he wanted to be friends, then to get Hermione to change her mind.

"Let's just forget about this for tonight, okay?" Ron said. Then, as if to emphasize his point, he took the book off the bed and tossed it on the floor.

"Ron, that's a – "

"I know its library property," he said, cutting off her scolding. "But they're never going to know, so what's the harm?" He said, grinning mischievously and tossed another book off the bed that had those articles she had shown him stuffed inside.

"You've made your point," Hermione said. "And for your lack of respect towards library property maybe I should just leave?" She said and started to get up, but Ron with his Auror reflexes pulled her back down to the bed so she landed on top of him.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked coyly.

"Well, I know you really don't want to leave. You're just trying to get a response out of me," he responded.

"Are you really sure about that?"

Instead of waiting for his answer she closed the gap between them and kissed him hard on the lips. Ron's response was immediate and he tangled his hands in her hair, pulling her closer. He moved his hands from her hair down to her back. He heard a door open and stopped.

"Its just Harry," she breathed, kissing his jaw line.

Ron, with amazing restraint that he didn't even know he possessed, gently pulled Hermione off of him and sat up. "I just need to talk to him quickly. I'll be right back."

Hermione was frowning at him and he had to get out of there before he changed his mind. _Damn, Harry for deciding to come home now_, Ron thought.

He found Harry in the living room, just about to switch on the telly.

"Hey," Harry said to him.

"So you and Ginny are an official thing now?" Ron said. "Because two days ago you were worried about You-Know-Who being able to access your thoughts. So what, that doesn't matter now?"

"Of course it still matters," said Harry. "I'm going to see Snape after our mission tomorrow, so he can see if I really am still vulnerable to Voldemort."

"Have you said anything to Ginny?"

"No, because I know she'll just worry and it might be for nothing. And you don't have to worry about me putting her in danger because she's not even talking to me right now."

"What happened?" Hermione asked, appearing in the doorway behind Ron.

"She found out that everyone knew I wasn't an Auror anymore before her, so that didn't go over too well," he said, fixing his gaze on the telly.

"Did you try apologizing?" Hermione asked, joining him on the sofa.

"No," Harry mumbled, suddenly feeling like an idiot.

"It might help," she encouraged. "Then maybe the next time you have something important you should tell Ginny first."

"Hermione, it's not like I planned to tell Ginny last. It just happened. I don't know why it should even matter who I tell first," he said, exasperated.

"I think it matters to Ginny. She knows you told us first, right?" She said and Harry nodded. "Maybe she felt a bit left out then, or even jealous."

Harry just sighed. This relationship stuff was far too complicated for him.

"So, are you going to tell Harry?" Ron spoke up.

Hermione frowned at him. She hadn't wanted to bring up the hypnosis idea to Harry yet.

"Tell me what?" Harry said, staring from one best friend to the other.

Hermione knew there was no way she was going to get away without telling him now, so she explained to him the whole procedure, the same way she had to Ron.

"I don't think you should do it," Harry said afterwards. "If there was a good chance you would recover something useful, don't you think Moody would have suggested the procedure sooner?"

"This isn't just about helping the Order. Maybe I need to know too, for my own piece of mind."

It didn't sound to Harry like she really wanted to know.

"Just don't rush into anything, okay?" He said, giving her hand a quick squeeze. "Having the knowledge of a few hours isn't worth you getting hurt over."

As soon as Harry was out of the room, Hermione shot Ron a sharp look. "You wanted me to tell Harry because you knew he would side with you?"

"No," Ron lied unconvincingly, coming over to sit beside her.

"I'm not saying I'm going to do it," she said to him. "But would you come to St. Mungo's with me if I did?"

"Of course I would," he replied instantly.

But Ron knew without a doubt as Hermione curled up next to him that she was going to go through it.

* * *

Ron and Harry were huddled around the strategy table at Phoenix Headquarters, along with Moody, Tonks, Lupin, Kingsley, Bill, and Charlie. Tonks was currently leading the meeting on the Death Eater raid they would heading that night. 

"Based on the intelligence we got from Fred and George a few days ago, a new Death Eater cell has popped up about 10 miles south west of the Ministry. We don't have exact numbers on the number of Death Eaters there, which is why we're going in teams of two. What we do know is that there is a spell surrounding the area that prevents anyone from apparating in or out unless they know where the pockets are. Try apparating outside those pockets and you'll be killed instantly. The spell extends about a mile outwards in all directions, so we'll apparate to a secure location outside it and then walk in. This is the spot that's already been scouted out, so you're all to apparate here," said Tonks, using her wand to draw a glowing red circle on the map. "From there, we'll head in. Questions?" She asked in a very, un-Tonks like serious tone.

There were none, and Tonks cleaned up the strategy table with a wave of her wand and they moved out.

Harry was all too aware of the fact that Moody's glass eye had been following him throughout Tonks speech. He didn't have time to worry about Moody's distrust of him though – there was a mission to complete.

Once the group was a safe and concealed distance away from Phoenix Headquarters, they all apparated within a couple of meters of the point Tonks had indicated on the map. When they were all there, Bill and Charlie did a quick perimeter sweep that turned out nothing so they moved on.

The building was disguised as a rundown muggle barn that had seriously deteriorated over the years. Fred and George's information had said to walk up to the west side of the barn and then through the swinging doors that were falling off their hinges. It was supposed to operate very similar to the barrier between platforms nine and ten at the train station, and would transport them inside.

Lupin and Kingsley went first, quickly disappearing behind the wooden doors. The rest of the group followed a short time afterwards. They reappeared in a large hallway, completely dark save for the illumination coming from the adjoining room.

Moody indicated they should move and they broke out into their teams of two, heading into the next room. It was clear the barn was just a façade as the inside was much larger. There was a great open area, like it was some sort of a meeting place. There were sets of staircases on either side, leading up to walkways that surrounded the open area on the floor.

The fact that they had not encountered any resistance to that point, that even their approach to the place had gone undetected, left Harry with an uneasy feeling that refused to abate. As soon as the group was fully spread out, Harry felt cold excitement in his head, and froze, realizing the deadly mistake they had made.

He screamed out, "it's a trap!" to warn everyone seconds before the first wave of wand fire rained down on them.

The area lit up as they took up defensive positions to begin returning the curses being shot at them from the walkway above. Harry couldn't even begin to fathom a guess as to how many Death Eaters were present there were so many. He and Ron were standing back-to-back, returning wand fire from a shielded spot under the walkway. When Harry looked up he could see Bill and Charlie had made it to the other staircase and were taking down Death Eaters trying to make it to the main level.

"Looks like there's an opening on the other staircase," Ron shouted over the noise. "Think we can make it?"

Harry, who knew they couldn't hold out much longer in their current position, took the initiative and started running towards the other staircase in a zigzag pattern to avoid getting hit. He could hear Ron's heavy footsteps behind him as he started climbing the stairs. Death Eaters were on top of them the moment they reached the top of the platform.

Ron aimed at the pack of Death Eaters closest to their position, taking out three of them in a matter of seconds.

Harry spun around at the popping sound behind them. A Death Eater had just apparated behind them. He and Ron would have already been dead or unconscious if the Death Eater had been using a normal charm. But a purplish energy looking sphere was swirling around its wand, slowly increasing in size. Ron turned as well because it seemed to be emitting a low sound. Harry had never seen this kind of spell before, which made it impossible to tell if he'd be able to block it with a standard shield spell.

As the noise continued to raise in volume, it was probably a sign the Death Eater was getting close to releasing it. Thinking quickly, Harry shoved Ron and himself through a darkened doorway and into another room.

Both teens were surprised to see they were in a room that looked every bit the same as the one they had just come from. The sounds of the battle in the other room could barely be heard, which meant there was likely an impenetrable charm put on the room.

"What do you suppose they need these rooms for?" Ron said to him.

Harry himself wasn't too sure it was meant as a meeting area anymore, now that there was more than one. He was going to voice his opinion when something swinging slightly in the air caught his attention. He felt his chest tighten when he saw it was a person dangling from that rope. When he recognized who it was, it took everything he possessed not be sick on the spot.

His grip on Ron's arm was painfully tight as he made him come around to the direction he was facing. Ron felt his knees buckling slightly at the sight before him.

Just as he did so, Harry heard the marching of footsteps coming from the doorway they just entered through. He turned back to Ron, who had fallen to his knees beside him and threw up.

"Ron, they're coming," he said, trying to draw his friend out the state he was in. But Ron didn't seem to hear him. He couldn't get past the image of a dead Percy hanging in the air in front of him.

The footsteps were getting louder and Harry drew his own wand, planning to cover both of them as Ron seemed to be in no state to fight. The dozen or so Death Eaters that applied on the platform in front of them, told Harry he would not be able to get out of this with his wand alone.

He took aim and shouted a body-binding curse at the Death Eaters nearest the front before blasting two more against the far wall. But they were too fast. Through his own wand fire and use his mind to push the Death Eaters back, he managed to keep a sizeable gap between them and him.

He had been told to avoid obvious shows of his powers in the presence of the enemy, but it was either that or let Ron and him die.

He used his mind to throw two Death Eaters over the railing and smashed the skull of another one against the wall. He didn't care what he did as long as he prevented them from getting too close. The sound of a wand behind him told him Ron had recovered and was now covering him from the other side.

Harry was late in getting up a shield charm, so his hand was still exposed when the curse hit him and he lost his wand, lucky enough not to lose his hand in the process.

Knowing he had a split second choice of either to conjure it back to him and maybe not get a defensive charm up in time, or to charge the Death Eaters without a wand and use the element of surprise to take out as many as he could.

When Ron heard him move from behind him and saw him running into the packs, he shouted, "Harry, what the hell are you doing?"

Harry didn't answer. He needed every ounce of concentration he could muster. He was already feeling drained from using his telekinesis so much. He didn't try to do anything fancy or difficult, all he cared about was doing it whatever it took to take out as many Death Eaters as possible, whether it was knocking them unconscious or snapping their necks. He was making quite a dent in the pack of Death Eaters and was glad to see Ron was still holding his own, when a blinding pain ripped through his skull. He staggered backwards, grabbing his scar. That's when he felt the last Death Eater who he had only managed to disarm before succumbing to the pain, club him over the head. Harry collapsed onto his back, already feeling something sticky and wet trickling down the side of his face.

The pain in his scar had subsided to a dull ache, while the pain from the blow to the head he took was still fresh. The Death Eater had recovered its wand by this point and was looking triumphant staring down at a fallen Harry. Harry tried to use his mind to throw it backwards but the same stabbing pain ripped through his scar and the Death Eater was still standing in front of him.

His breathing ragged Harry lashed out with his booted foot, knocking the Death Eater off balance, and allowing him a chance to stagger to his feet. Weaponless, Harry jumped on the Death Eater and tried to wrestle his wand away. The Death Eater had about a hundred pounds on him, making it difficult for Harry to get the upper hand.

They were wrestling against the railing, when Harry suddenly felt it give way under their weight and they plunged through the air in a deadly fall towards bottom level.

Harry felt his body crash through the wooden floorboards before finally hitting something solid and stopping completely…

* * *

When Harry came to, it hurt just to breathe. He managed to blink open his eyes but everything was a dark, blurry mess around him. 

"Thanks for deciding to rejoin the living," said Ron's hushed voice, sounding from above him.

"Ron?" He croaked. "What happened?" He was flat on his back, but at least he could feel his legs, though at the moment he wished he couldn't.

"You're a big fucking idiot, that's what happened," said Ron, his voice more rough now. "Don't you remember deciding to take on a squad of Death Eaters single-handedly and then wrestling with one twice your size before you both fell over the railing?"

"I thought I was dead."

"It must be that extremely thick head that protected you."

"You're one to talk," Harry retorted, attempting to sit up and immediately regretted doing so as the pain in his chest doubled.

"I patched you up as best I could but my med charms aren't that great," he said, sounding apologetic.

"I guess we should have taken Hermione's offer to teach us healing charms a bit more seriously," said Harry, closing his eyes to try and block out the pain.

"I'm sure she'll have good time scolding us about it when we get back," Ron remarked sarcastically, but there was no humour in his voice.

"Where is everyone?" Harry asked him. His eyesight might be poor but he couldn't hear anyone else but Ron.

"I don't know," Ron replied, his tone turning grim. "After you fell, all the Death Eaters started turning and running away. I went to grab you and found another way out. It's a good thing too, because the whole place was blown to bits a few seconds after we got out." Ron reached into his robes and handed Harry a thin, brown object. "I got your wand but couldn't find your glasses."

Harry took his wand gratefully. He'd rather be semi-blind than weaponless because he sure as hell wasn't going to chance using his powers again so soon after what had happened. Something occurred to him then and he regretted not saying anything sooner. "I'm sorry about Percy, Ron."

He couldn't make out the expression on Ron's face in the darkness, but his friend didn't speak for almost a minute. "They knew we were coming," he said at last. "They wouldn't have hung – wouldn't have done that if they hadn't been expecting us."

Harry, who was having to rely on his hearing more heavily now, heard the restrained grief and rage in Ron's voice. He knew Ron and Percy weren't particularly close. Ron had refused to forgive him for deserting his family, but it didn't mean Percy's death wasn't tearing him up inside.

"Can you walk?" Ron said to him. "I've been trying to keep us hidden in case any Death Eaters were still hanging around, but we need to get out of here in case they decide to come back and see if their trap worked."

Harry, with help from Ron was able to get to his feet.

"I figure we're about a quarter of a mile from the barn," Ron said as he walked and Harry limped. "We need to get out from under the shield spell before we can apparate out of here. The explosion could have disrupted it but I don't want to take that chance."

Harry didn't bother with a response. It was all he could do to keep from slipping into unconsciousness again. He didn't even know how long they walked for before Ron finally stopped.

"I made us walk a bit further, just to be safe," Ron said to him. He didn't want them to still be inside the bubble by chance and the moment they apparated they were splinched or worse. "I'll apparate us to St. Mungo's."

Harry became alert at this. "You going to apparate us both at the same time?"

"Listen, I hate to break it to you, Harry, but you'll probably splinch yourself the second you try to apparate. I think the odds are a hell of a lot better if I do it for both of us," Ron countered.

Ron didn't wait for Harry's response. Putting a lot more concentration into apparating then he normally did, he pictured St. Mungo's in his mind and disapparated with Harry.

* * *

As soon as Kingsley came to Grimmauld Place brining the news that Harry and Ron had showed up at St. Mungo's, they couldn't leave fast enough for Hermione's liking. 

She burst into Harry's room and straight into Ron's arms. "I didn't know what to think," she said burying her face into his shoulder and tightening her grip on him. "I've never been so worried."

"Sure you have," said Ron. "Like when you didn't think I was going to pass my O.W.L.s or that time – "

Hermione broke the embrace, and deciding it was best not to comment on Ron's statement, turned her attention to Harry, who was occupying the single bed in the room.

"You better not launch yourself at him," Ron advised her. "He's in pretty rough shape."

"Thanks, Ron," Harry muttered. If he had the strength he would have sent Ron a warning look not to tell Hermione about what he had done. She already looked close enough to being hysterical over worrying about the two of them.

Hermione turned back to Ron. "I'm so sorry about, Percy," she said, lowering her voice.

"You know?" Ron said, his voice tightening.

She nodded. "Tonks found him when they were searching for you. Your mum is still at Grimmauld Place with your dad."

Ron gave a slight nod of his head. His mum would be a mess. She was the only one of them that didn't begrudge Percy for walking out on their family.

The hospital room door opened behind them and Ginny entered. She encountered Ron first and embraced him tightly. They weren't normally so openly affectionate in public but that attitude was nowhere to be found that night.

She made her way to Harry next and not wanting to aggravate his injuries, embraced him gently. She heard his sharp intake of breath and immediately let go. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"

"A little, but it's better now that you let go," he said, forcing a smile so he wouldn't look so haggard. He sought out her hand and she clasped it tightly.

"Everyone else made it out okay, right?" Ron said to Hermione.

When she didn't answer right away, Harry tore his gaze away from Ginny to look at her. "Hermione?" He prompted.

She bit her bottom lip. She knew she had to tell him. She had just been hoping to put it off a bit longer. "Remus is missing."

Harry, who seemed almost a cripple a moment before, shot up in bed, grabbing his sides as he did so. "Missing? Did he at least make it out before the place blew up?"

"Tonks was with Remus but she got hit and went down. She doesn't know what happened to him after that. She thinks there's a good chance he got out. She thinks it's also just as likely the Death Eaters grabbed him, which explains why no one's heard from him."

"Are they out looking for him?" Harry asked, slowly moving his legs so they were hanging over the side of the bed.

"Tonks and Moody are conducting the search themselves." Her eyes widened when she saw he was trying to get up. "Harry, you can't – "

Ron moved quickly and caught one of Harry's arms, while Ginny grabbed the other one to keep him from falling.

"Damn it, Harry," Ron said, trying to hold him up. "The Healer said you're not supposed to walk around for at least a couple of days."

"I'm not just going to lie there while Remus is missing."

"You have to, Harry. You can't help him like this," said Hermione.

Harry resisted Ron and Ginny's attempts to get him back into bed.

"Harry, you should be resting," Dumbledore's voice sounded from the doorway.

"Moody and Tonks are going to need all the help they can get in finding Remus," Harry argued. "Every second wasted – "

"No time is being wasted," Dumbledore assured him. "As you just said, Tonks and Alastor already have two teams assembled and are searching for Remus as we speak. You, Harry, in your current state cannot help them. You would only be hindering their progress."

Harry just stared at the Headmaster defiantly, not looking any closer to getting back into bed.

"Harry, I'm afraid if you continue to refuse Mr. Weasley's attempts to get you back into bed, I will have to get the Healer."

Harry finally agreed – albeit grudgingly to get back into bed. He didn't know if Dumbledore would make good on his promise to get a Healer but he did not want to risk having to take a sedative potion.

"Thank you," Dumbledore said to him. "There are many capable people looking for Remus. With time, they will find him," he told them all confidently.

The bit about time was what had Harry worried the most. If Lupin was in Death Eater hands he might not have much of it.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The funeral for Percy Weasley was held a week later on a Saturday morning. After the service, they returned to Phoenix Headquarters for a quiet gathering. Harry, who wanted to be there for Ginny, but also give her some time alone with her family, had quietly slipped away into the kitchen. He found Snape in there, who was obviously trying to avoid the emotional entanglements that funerals seemed to bring.

Snape barely acknowledged his presence, which under different circumstances would have suited Harry just fine. Unfortunately for him, he needed to talk to Snape.

"Professor?"

Snape almost looked startled by the sound of Harry's respectful tone. "What is it, Potter?"

Dancing around the subject, was not going to improve the Potions Master's mood. "I need to know if Voldemort's using the link we have to gather information about the Order."

"Yes, that was partially behind Mad-Eye's reasoning for revoking your Auror status," said Snape, who sounded a bit too smug about the whole thing for Harry's liking. "What is it you want from me?"

Harry cursed inwardly. He had known Snape would be a bastard about it from the start. He just hoped the Potions Master wasn't expecting him to grovel, because Harry wasn't sure he could to do that. "You're the only one skilled enough to test my mind and be sure I'm not open to Voldemort."

"Do you remember what I said to you if you ever asked for my help again?"

"Look, I know you don't like me, and believe me the feeling is mutual. But Percy Weasley just died and Lupin is missing, and I need to know if I'm responsible."

"Potter, I've been telling you for a very long time that the world does not revolve around you," Snape said coolly. "While it's quite clear your presence was known ahead of time during the last Death Eater raid, Percy Weasley's body being there may very well have had nothing to do with you. No one had heard from him in months. It's entirely plausible that he switched sides. It's not as if he was convinced of our cause and willing to help us fight. But I doubt we will ever know for sure," Snape finished.

Harry didn't even want to consider that a Weasley could be a traitor, but here Snape was suggesting it and Harry suddenly found he couldn't be sure of where Percy's loyalties had lied.

"Come back here at midnight, Potter," Snape said a moment later. "And don't try my patience by being late," he said before walking briskly passed Harry.

Harry rejoined everyone else soon after and Snape gave no indication that their conversation in the kitchen had even happened. Harry didn't care. What mattered was he was going to have his answers soon enough.

* * *

Harry took Ginny back to Lupin's late in the evening. For Harry, the old house seemed unusually quiet, which was strange in itself because it was typically quiet around there. 

Ginny led him upstairs and into her room. She shut the door even though they were the only ones home. Harry took that as a sign that she wanted him to stay.

Harry helped her out of her robes and she changed into her nightclothes. Instead of getting into bed, she laid on the covers, pulling Harry down beside her.

"I know it may sound morbid," she spoke as Harry gently stroked her hair. "But I've thought about people dying before. I've thought about something happening to Bill and Charlie because they've been involved with the Order long before us. I've worried about Ron too, but probably not as much as Hermione. She was a wreck when you both were missing. But I never thought anything would happen to Percy just because he was never involved. I know its naïve to think that."

"Gin, there's nothing wrong with wanting to think the people around you are going to be safe," said Harry.

"I don't think that way anymore. Nobody's untouchable, especially you," she said, moving on to her side to look at him.

"I'll admit I don't have the best track record, but I do have this amazing ability to make it out of impossible situations," he said, trying to lighten the mood.

Ginny didn't say anything, she just rested her head on his chest. Harry could tell by her shallow breathing a few minutes later that she was asleep.

Harry stayed with her for another couple of hours before it was time for him to go back to Grimmauld Place.

He made sure to show up early, not wanting to give Snape a reason to think he wasn't serious about this. Snape was already in the parlor waiting for him when he arrived, and made no comment about his punctuality.

"You remember how this works?" Snape said, pulling out his wand.

Harry nodded, putting some distance between himself and the Potions Master. He ran through a calming exercise in his head, getting his emotions under control before they got started.

Snape raised his wand and that was the only warning Harry had, before the older man shouted, "_Legilmency!_"

Harry quickly fell to his knees but by focusing his concentration was able to through the curse off before Snape could see his thoughts. When Harry had successfully thrown off the curse, they started again. They continued like this for an hour, when Harry, who was sweating heavily by this point, saw Snape put away his wand.

"It's not you, Potter," Snape told him. "Your mind is fairly impenetrable to the effects of Legillmency. The Dark Lord is not getting his intelligence from you."

Harry knew that was as close to a compliment as he would ever get from Snape. "So then there's still someone in the Order who's leaking information?" Harry didn't feel nearly as relieved as he did a moment ago.

"Most likely," Snape conceded, "and thus far this individual has avoided exposing or drawing attention to him or herself."

There was one other thing he needed to ask Snape. "I used my telepathy to fight the Death Eaters," Harry started slowly. "But after awhile, my scar would start burning when I tried to use it."

"That means you exceeded your limit," Snape said simply.

"How? I was only using it for a few minutes."

"Potter, you've only had basic training on how to control and use your powers. At your level, you probably cannot exceed using your abilities for more than several minutes at a time before exhausting yourself. Since these powers you've developed seem to be linked to the Dark Lord, that's why your scar starts burning. Your scar is how you got these powers in the first place. I would not recommend using your powers past that point or you may damage yourself permanently." Snape straightened his shoulders and said, "we're done here. You may go, Potter."

The finality in the Potions Master's tone told Harry he shouldn't press his luck and get out of there as quickly as possible. Harry left thinking that while Moody had been so quick to pin him as the one leaking information to Voldemort, the real traitor had been able to continue their activities without anyone suspecting a thing.

* * *

Harry was exiting the loo, fully dressed and toweling off his hair from his morning shower when he met Ginny in the hallway. She had still been sleeping when he had checked in on her at Lupin's earlier. 

"You were gone when I woke up," she said to him.

"Sorry, I thought I'd shower here so I didn't wake you," he apologized.

"No, I mean last night. I woke up in the middle of the night and you were gone."

"I had to meet Snape," he told her. He had been hoping to avoid telling her anything but lying would have just made things worse.

That was certainly the last thing Ginny expected to hear. "Snape?"

"I was worried that Voldemort might still be finding a way to get in my head.

"You were blaming yourself for what happened to Percy," she said knowingly.

"What happened to not sneaking into each other's thoughts?" He said sharply, having felt Ginny's presence in his head.

"I didn't mean to but sometimes that's the only way to figure out what's going on in that head of yours," she said to him. "What did Snape say?" She said, changing the subject.

"He said I'm fine," said Harry, dropping the towel in the hamper. "My Occlumency skills are apparently even better than he thought."

"Good, then you can stop blaming yourself for what happened," Ginny said in satisfaction. "Percy is just another victim in this war." Something flashed in Harry's eyes then and she didn't have to know what he was feeling to call him on it. "What? Do you know something else?"

Harry sighed. "We don't know why Percy was there. Snape thinks there's a possibility Percy was working for Voldemort."

Ginny looked as if she'd been slapped. "Since when did you and Snape become such great mates? I can't believe you would even think my brother would sell out to You-Know-Who."

"I don't want to believe that but Percy's gone now, so we may never know."

The words had barely left his mouth before he felt Ginny's hand slap him across the face. He recoiled, wondering if she had left a handprint on his face she had hit him so hard.

She turned and stormed off. Harry could practically hear her scream, "Remus Lupin's!" as she stepped into the fireplace and flooed back home.

Harry walked down the hall to the kitchen, gingerly touching the spot on his face where he'd been hit. Ron and Hermione were all too engrossed with their breakfast when he walked in. He was half expecting Ron to say something about Percy, but it looked like neither he nor Hermione were going to comment on what they'd overheard.

"We should get going," Hermione said to Ron. They were supposed to meet Tonks at St. Mungo's in ten minutes. The Auror was then going to take them to see the Healer who was going to put Hermione through the procedure to recover her memories.

"You sure you don't want me to come with you?" Harry said to her.

"I'm sure," she said, giving him a reassuring smile. The truth was she wanted as small an audience as possible because she wasn't sure what was going to happen. But she felt better knowing she was going to have Ron with her.

She and Ron left a short time afterwards, apparating just outside the entrance to St. Mungo's. Tonks arrived a few minutes later and they went inside.

* * *

The Healer who was a specialist in the hypnosis-Veritaserum treatment, had Hermione seated in a large padded chair at a forty-five degree angle. There was just the two of them in the sparsely decorated room. There was a viewing room directly connected to it that allowed Ron and Tonks to see her at all times. 

The Healer was currently explaining the process to her in much the same way Lupin had except in greater detail.

"Instead of making you ingest the Veritaserum, which is most common, I'm going to inject it into your arm in a diluted form so I can control the dosage more closely," the Healer said to her. "I'll start off by asking you some very simple questions, which your response should be automatic to. If it's not I'll adjust the dosage. From there, I'll start with very general questions about the day in question leading up to your disappearance. To trigger those buried memories, I may have to increase the Veritiserum dosage. But I'll be monitoring your condition the entire time. If your heart rate drops or increases too much, we'll stop. Do you have any other questions before we begin?"

Hermione looked out at Ron and Tonks standing in the viewing room before turning back to the Healer and shaking her head.

"I'm going to inject the Veritaserum now," the Healer told her, taking the syringe full of the liquid and injecting it into her arm. "I want you to lay back and relax. Close your eyes and concentrate on the sound of my voice and nothing else."

Hermione followed his instructions, dimly aware of the Veritaserum taking control of her body.

"Keeping your eyes closed, I want you to tell me your full name."

"Hermione Jane Granger."

"What is the date of your birthday?"

"September nineteenth," she replied automatically.

"What are the names of your parents?"

"Jack and Elizabeth Granger."

"Where did you go to school?"

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Very good, Hermione," The Healer encouraged. "Now, I want you to think back to November twenty-second of last year. Do you remember that day?"

Her response wasn't instantaneous this time, but she spoke in the same sort of monotone voice. "Yes. Ron and I were going to this abandoned wizarding village near Azkaban where Death Eaters had been reported to be hiding there."

"Good. Now tell me exactly what happened."

"We apparated near there when Ron said he started feeling like he was going to pass out and then he lost consciousness."

"What did you do next?"

"I left him there and continued for the village."

"Then what?"

"I – I don't remember," she said, her voice sounding less sure.

"Yes, you do, it's all there in your head, Hermione," the Healer said in a soothing voice.

This time she forcibly shook her head and the Healer gave her another small, dose of Veritaserum.

"Now, concentrate on what happened after you left Ron. You went into the abandoned village, right?"

"Yes."

"What happened while you were there?"

"I – " She gasped at the searing white pain spread throughout her entire body and she convulsed right out of the chair and onto the floor.

Ron rushed out of the viewing room before Tonks could move and barged into the room with Hermione and the Healer in it. She was still on the floor but she was only shaking now.

Hermione was dimly aware of Ron gathering her in his arms, but she heard clearly what the Healer was saying.

"If that's not an example of a pre-conditioned response designed to stop her from recovering her memories by inducing high levels of pain, I don't know what is," the Healer said to Tonks.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

"I still don't know what you needed me for," said Harry.

He and Ron had just left their third store in Diagon Alley and Ron was still no closer to finding a gift then when they had started.

"I told you I could use your advice on what to get Hermione for our anniversary," said Ron, sounding as he had already given Harry that particular answer five times already. "This is the first time I've had a decent amount of money to call my own and I want to get her something she deserves." It was true that thanks to his Auror's salary he was making enough money to pay rent to Harry every month and still have a comfortable amount left. He would probably never be as rich as Harry was but he didn't care about things like that anymore. Most of the money Harry had he gotten because people had died, and Ron wasn't stupid enough to be jealous of that anymore.

"Why don't you get her some books?" Harry suggested as they were coming to Florish and Blotts.

Ron gave him an incredulous look. "That's got to be the least romantic thing I cold get her. At least I don't have to worry about what you buy Ginny," he added as an afterthought.

"Hermione's not like other girls," Harry insisted. "She doesn't like all that fancy stuff. I'm telling you, Ron, she's not going to care what you get her as long as it comes from you."

Ron didn't seem to be listening to him and kept on walking. He was starting to regret bringing Harry along. Hermione had said he needed to get out of the house because he was going to worry himself to death over Remus. Ron found that rather ironic since Hermione seemed to be doing a lot of worrying herself, not just over Lupin but over what had happened at St. Mungo's with that Healer specialist. She had actually wanted to go back and try again, and so far he had succeeded in keeping her from doing just that. If it had caused her that much pain the first time around, it would probably only get worse if she tried again.

In order to get Harry to leave the house initially, Ron had said suggested they head out to Quality Quidditch Supplies to see the latest brooms and equipment for the upcoming season. It had taken some persuading, but Ron had finally managed to drag him out of the house.

After they only spent about an hour at the Quidditch store, Ron had to think quickly about somewhere else for them to go because Harry would undoubtedly want to go straight home. That was when Ron got the idea to start looking around for an anniversary gift for Hermione. It was still a couple months off but this would be one thing he would not want to put off until the last minute like he did with everything else in his life.

Trying not to make it seem like he was following Harry's earlier advice, Ron headed towards the new section where they had recently expanded Diagon Alley.

With fewer witches and wizards shopping every day, to try and give them a reason to shop – while recovering lost sales – a whole new section of specialty stores had opened up over the last few months. Most of them carried exotic items and goods not available anywhere in Britain. There was a rainforest store that allowed you to take home a piece of the South American rainforest. Hermione had dragged him in there once and it was so humid he thought he was going to pass out. You couldn't even see where you were going the trees were so tall and thick.

He thought his best bet to find her something would be to go in the archaeologist shop that sold artifacts, books, and all other trinkets that were more than a thousand years old. They passed by the shop's display window on their way in that was offering a fully preserved mummy half off.

Ron felt completely out of place from the moment he stepped in the shop. Everyone in there looked like they held some sort of scholarly or archaeological position. The shop was divided up into historical sections, like Ancient Egypt, Babylon, Roman Times, and the aisles went on and on. Ron wracked his brain trying to remember what Hermione had talked about from her Ancient Runes texts, but for the most part he had just feigned interest and now it was coming back to bite him in the arse because he had no clue what parts of Ancient Runes she was interested in. But knowing Hermione, she probably found it all equally fascinating.

They passed by the Prehistoric section where a pterodactyl egg was on display for purchase. Ron kept walking until they happened upon the Ancient Egypt section. He remembered how Hermione had pumped him for information about his family's trip to Egypt back in third year after she had started her Ancient Runes class. He decided Ancient Egypt might be a safe bet then.

The only problem was there was so much stuff he was going to have a hard time choosing. There was a build your own pyramid kit, complete burial chambers, and pharaoh clothing just to name a few. Ron picked up a book called _Hieroglyphs – Their Meaning and Place in Egyptian Society_ and started leafing through it. He was pretty sure she didn't have a book like this.

"Look at that, Ron reading when he doesn't have to. Never thought I'd see the day," said a singsong voice behind him.

Ron's head snapped up and he glared at Fred and George.

"Mum, would be impressed," George said.

"Shut it, you two," Ron growled, placing the book back on the shelf. "What are you doing here?"

"It's been awhile since we added to our own product line," Fred began. "Egyptian gag items would make a great fit. If they work, we'll buy a handful of mummies for Halloween."

"Shopping for Hermione?" George asked him a second later.

Ron didn't ask how he knew that because it was obvious he wouldn't come in to a store like this for himself.

"So what are you going to get her?" Fred asked.

"Dunno. I haven't decided yet."

Fred arched an eyebrow. "Don't you even know what she likes?"

"Of course I do," said Ron, growing irritated. "She likes books."

"And?"

"And reading."

"Oi, you need to get away from the books theme, little brother," said Fred with a shake of his head. "What would Hermione say if she knew all you thought she was nothing more than a bookworm?"

"I do not!" Ron practically shouted.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," George taunted. "Just because your brothers know your girlfriend better than you do," he said with a wink.

"We'll be going now," Fred announced, having sufficiently aggravated their younger brother for the day. "Time is money, after all and we've only just begun our shopping."

They took off down the dinosaur section and Ron muttered under his breath, "bastards."

"They're just messing with your head," Harry said to him.

Ron grumbled an incoherent reply and walked further down the aisle. While part of him knew the twins were just trying to get a rise out of him, he also knew they were partially right. Outside of books and school he really didn't know what else Hermione liked. It had never bothered him before. Then again, he had never thought about it much before now.

Harry, predictably followed after him a few moments later, and that reminded Ron that he was supposed to talk to him about something. Hermione thought he should be the one to talk to him about Ginny, while he had adamantly stated that blokes just don't talk about their feelings and stuff like that. Hermione had gotten huffy by that point and said there was nothing wrong with two best friends talking about what was bothering one of them. Ron had really put his foot in his mouth then when he had suggested she talk to Harry if it was so important to her. Hermione had pointed out that he would probably feel more comfortable talking to Ron than her, something he didn't understand. Now he had to say something because he knew Hermione was going to ask how it went afterwards.

"Er, so I haven't seen much of Ginny at our place lately," he started awkwardly. It didn't help that Harry merely shrugged in response.

"Are you two still in a row?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Listen, Harry, what you said about Percy – "

"I'm sorry for that. I shouldn't have said anything when there's no evidence that points to Percy joining up with the Death Eaters."

"I mean, yeah, there's no evidence but it doesn't make it not true. I'll never tell my mum that but it's not as if any of us knew what Percy had been doing these last few months."

Harry was slightly surprised to hear Ron agreeing with him, but it made him feel a little better.

"You know how Ginny gets," Ron continued. "She can be a bit sensitive and fly off the handle sometimes. And she has the trademark Weasley stubbornness but she'll come around eventually."

If the imprint she had left on Harry's face was any indication, he wouldn't hold his breath.

A short while later, Ron came to the conclusion he wasn't going to find the perfect gift for Hermione, at least not today. Deciding he had got Harry out the house long enough, Ron suggested they go home. By leaving now, it meant he and Harry still had plenty of time to catch the start of the Chudley Canons match on the wireless.

When Hermione showed up at their flat hours later, the match was still going on. Ron was getting up to stretch his legs in the middle of a short break when he almost collided with her.

He recovered from his slightly startled state and kissed her in greeting.

When he pulled away, her face was scrunched up. "You taste like – "

"Beer?"

"I was going to say alcohol but I would still be right." She took in the sight of the ten or so beer bottles scattered around the coffee table and arched an eyebrow at Ron. "What exactly have you two been doing all day?"

Ron steered her in the direction of the kitchen, so Harry wouldn't hear them. He was suddenly aware of how dark it was so he turned on some lights. "You said I should get him out of the house, so I did. Then we came back and started listening to the match. So, are you going to stay?" He said to her.

"I've got some reading I could do," she said, trying to not make it too obvious that she'd rather spend time with him then do a bit of homework.

"The match will be over soon, I promise," he said to her. "Another hour tops." With the weather conditions they were playing in the match could go all night, it could even go on for weeks. If that happened, he probably wouldn't have a girlfriend by the end of it.

"All right," she agreed.

He was surprised by how easily she'd given in, so he hoped the Canons wouldn't turn him into a liar by making this match go on for much longer.

Hermione followed him back to the living room, where they found Harry sitting up and listening to the wireless in rapt attention. Ron was going to ask if someone had spotted the Snitch when the voice on the wireless didn't sound like any of the announcers.

"What happened to the match?"

Harry waved him silent and Ron tuned in to what the newswoman was saying.

" – _Law Enforcement Squad is asking everyone to remain calm and stay inside their homes. The Aurors have been called as well and are currently dealing with this werewolf sighting. Two mauled bodies have already been discovered east of Manchester, but Aurors appear to have the situation contained now at the Manchester private school. The Ministry of Magic has urged those living in or near wizarding communities in the area, to stay inside their homes. We'll return to the Chudley Canons match now and once we have more news_ – "

Harry jumped off the couch, nearly knocking over Ron and Hermione in his haste to get passed them.

"Harry, wait!" Hermione called as she and Ron ran after him.

But he had already apparated away by the time they made it outside.

* * *

Harry reappeared at the Manchester private school. He expected to only find the Aurors on scene but everyone seemed to have ignored the broadcaster's warning over the wireless for the chance to see a real life werewolf. 

He swore because the Aurors had put up barriers to keep anyone from getting too close, and anyone who attempted to cross it was stunned unconscious. Even with the barrier, the Ministry wasn't taking any chances. While the Aurors were busy with the werewolf, the Magical Law Enforcement Squad was standing close to the barrier in case anyone created an opening and got through.

"Harry!"

He could hear Ron calling his name but didn't turn around. He could barely see anything with all the people but he could still hear. The werewolf was howling more loudly now.

"We can't get through," he told his friends when they reached his side.

"Harry," Hermione started gently, laying a hand on his arm. "I know you want it to be Remus but he's not the only werewolf in Britain."

He shrugged off her touch. "When was the last time you heard of a werewolf attack happening?" He snapped. "It has to be him. He must have broken out when the sun went down."

He was already moving away from his friends before they could disagree with him. He recognized the Auror giving instructions to one of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad wizards.

"Tonks!" He yelled before she could disappear again. He had to yell her name three more times before she finally heard him and moved towards the side of the barrier that was nearly devoid of anyone.

"Harry, we won't know if it's Remus until the morning," she said, not the least bit surprised to see him.

"What are they going to do with him in the meantime?" Hermione asked, rejoining Harry's side with Ron.

"They'll stun him unconscious and then bring him back to the Ministry where he'll be held in custody until they decide what to do with him."

"Tonks, that's a human being under there. He's not an animal for Christ's sake!" said Harry furious.

"I know that as well as you three but the Aurors aren't trained to think that way. You should know that, Harry. The werewolf is a threat, and no matter who it is underneath, they have to treat it as such. I will be there when the werewolf changes back, and if it is Remus I'll do everything I can to help him. Now, I need to get back there and you guys need to get out of here, all right?"

She was already jogging back to the other Aurors before waiting for their response.

There was a _pop s_ound as Harry disapparated, leaving his friends there.

* * *

Harry was on his third cup of coffee that morning and already feeling the jittery effects of the caffeine when Hermione joined him in the kitchen. 

"Has there been any news?" She asked him.

Harry shook his head. "I was up when Ron left this morning. He said he'd let us know once he heard something."

She nodded. "I was wondering if you could do something for me," she said, voicing what she had been going over in her head the last few days.

"Name it."

"You've mastered Occlumency for the most part and because of your abilities you can already reach into other people's minds," she started quickly before she lost her nerve. "I need you to help me remember whatever it was that happened that day I was missing."

"You already tried that hypnosis thing and it didn't work. Ron said you almost passed out the pain was so bad."

"And there's a reason that happened," she persisted. "I overheard the Healer tell Tonks he thinks the pain has been preprogrammed in my mind to stop me from remembering."

"How many times have you gone on about how complicated the mind is and it's not something to be tampered with?" He said, trying to dissuade her.

"Harry, please, I need to do this."

"How can you even ask me to mess around in your head like that? I wouldn't do something like this to anyone, and especially not to my best friend. Have you even thought about what kind of damage I could do to you?"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take," she said stubbornly.

"Well, I'm not!" Harry shouted.

"You won't hurt me," she said confidently.

This was insane. "You know I'd do anything for you – _anything_ except this."

"You hated Dumbledore keeping secrets from you all these years. Things that you had a right to know. Harry, I _need _to know," she pleaded with him.

"I won't know what I'm doing," he told her.

"That doesn't matter. I trust you, Harry."

After much deliberation, he said, "the second I feel something's wrong, I'm going to stop."

She nodded her head, accepting his terms.

Already regretting agreeing to what he was about to do, he led Hermione over to the table and made her sit across from him. They sat so close together their knees were almost touching.

"I'm not going to be able to control what I see in your head," he warned her.

She nodded, giving him her consent. Harry closed his eyes and then told her to relax and do the same.

He wasn't exactly sure what to do. He had invaded minds before but they had been Death Eaters and he hadn't been too concerned about causing them harm. He figured the best thing to do was to slowly go through her more recent memories until he found what he was looking for. When he came to the memory where Ron had lost consciousness and she was continuing without him, he heard her gasp out in pain and some unseen force tried to push him out of her head.

Hermione clutched his hand, silently telling him to keep going. He did, being even more cautious then before. He pushed passed the wall her mind had formed to keep him out. Hermione was trembling in pain at this point but she urged him on.

He suddenly found himself bombarded with flashes of memory before his scar felt like it was on fire and he had to pull out. He stood up so fast he was off balance and sent the chair tumbling to the ground. Clutching his scar, he stared back at Hermione who was also wide-eyed.

Harry couldn't move or breathe. It was _her_. It was Hermione who had been feeding information to Voldemort all this time.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty-One

There was something to be said about the way things were handled in the Auror division. Ron came in extremely early that morning, expecting to find the night shift and the extra Aurors that had been called in to handle the werewolf crisis. But there was only a skeleton staff when he came in at six, and almost two hours later only a few others had showed up to work. Ron took notice that they were all trainees or rookies like himself.

He had tried tracking down Tonks but no one, not even the department receptionist who had all the senior Aurors schedules could tell him where she was. When he checked out Tonks desk, it looked like she hadn't been by in the last five years, the paperwork and other Ministry sealed letters were piled a mile high.

Finally, he got fed up with waiting and decided to go to the source. His dad would be in the office by now and wouldn't give him the runaround like he was getting with everyone else. Harry was probably going out of his mind by now because Ron had promised to get in touch with him the second he heard any news.

Ron supposed the only good thing about that morning was Mackenzie had him scheduled for desk duty for the day. Normally he would hate it, but if it meant he could hang around to find out about Remus it was worth it.

As he grabbed the next lift and took it to the level where the Minister's office resided, he couldn't help but think Mackenzie had been scheduling him for a lot of desk duty lately. It had all started back when she had let Harry go. He wondered if she or Moody were beginning to think his connection to Harry was making him a liability as well.

That thought made him furious to say the least as he exited the left and strode towards his father's office. When he walked in the Minister's office, he was immediately greeted with the administrative assistant to the minister. She was scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment and didn't look up when Ron approached.

"I need to speak with Arthur Weasley," he told her.

"I'm sorry, but no one can see the Minister without an appointment," she said without looking up. "If you would like to make one – "

"I don't need an appointment. I'm his son."

The witch finally stopped what she was doing to look up at him. Sure enough she saw the Weasley family resemblance. "You can go in. He just got out of a meeting so he should be in his office now."

As if her saying _no_ was going to stop Ron from seeing his dad.

He knew his way to the Minister's office, having visited his dad a few times before. Those times his dad had wore a tired, but large grin at seeing him. Now, his father just looked very tired.

"Come in, Ron," his father said, seeing him there. "I know why you're here."

Ron took a seat in one of the cushioned chairs in front of his father's desk and sat down. Usually it was his mother who was the mind reader but he supposed after last night's events it was fairly obvious why he was there.

His father cleared some of the paperwork on his desk to the side and looked hard at his son. "Yes, it was Remus who the Aurors caught last night." At the relieved look on his son's face, he said, "I wouldn't look relieved just yet. The Dangerous Creatures Office is looking to press charges."

Ron was outraged. "Are they out of their bloody minds? They actually think Lupin meant to harm anyone?"

"Ron, the werewolf laws and regulations have been in place for centuries. They clearly state that any werewolf who fails to lock himself or herself up during a full moon and mortally wounds or kills another human being will be held responsible if caught."

"What rubbish," said Ron, shaking his head. "Everyone knows Lupin's been missing for days! It's not his fault his Death Eater captors forget it was a full moon. If he had been here, he would have taken his Wolfsbane potion and been harmless."

"I know, and I've tried explaining that fact to the wizard in charge of the Dangerous Creatures Office, but he won't budge. He's trying to stir up a fuss with the families of the victims so he can force this to a trial."

"Dad, you can't let this thing go to a trial. You know what they'll do to Lupin. They won't care what he's been through, they'll just want to lock a werewolf away."

"Ron, I'm doing everything I can but there's only so much I can do."

"How can you say that? Dad, you're the bloody Minister of Magic!"

"And that's exactly why I have to tread very carefully here. It's common knowledge that Remus and I are friends. If I interfere too much I'll lose my credibility and therefore any chance to help Remus at all."

"This is bullshit," Ron muttered.

"That's politics," said Arthur with a weary sigh.

"Where is he?" Ron asked.

"He's being kept in a secure section at St. Mungo's. The Aurors want to question him about where he's been and they'll need to take a statement about the attacks," Arthur explained. "Tonks is with him now. She'll let us know as soon as he's allowed visitors."

"What about this guy from the Dangerous Creatures office? Do we know anything about him?"

Arthur pointed his wand at the door and it closed, before saying to Ron, "the Order has been monitoring his activities since it's believed he's in league with You-Know-Who. As of yet, however, we have no solid proof to move against him." Arthur rubbed his temples wearily. "When I first became Minister, I tried get rid of anyone with strong ties to Fudge or You-Know-Who. But there are always those that slip through the cracks unnoticed. In fact, this wizard's prejudice against werewolf's is one of the things keeping me from going forward with a bill that will allow werewolves to hold positions within the Ministry and other institutions. He's petitioned the Ministry council and so far they're listening to what he has to say."

"Harry's not going to like this," said Ron, already dreading the conversation.

"No, I don't suppose he will," Arthur agreed. "Remus already has one previous records of werewolf violence when he was a patient at St. Mungo's. The Healer in charge of him failed to read his full medical history and he wasn't properly restrained when a full moon hit. But he does have friends in high places who can vouch for his credibility," he finished. "Mackenzie won't be in the office today. She's got her hands full with this investigation and the other Death Eater sightings. Why don't you go home and tell Harry what's going on?"

Ron left his dad's office a short time later, knowing Harry would be up and waiting for him when he got home. He already exactly how Harry would react to the news his father had given him.

* * *

Ron apparated back to his flat and the sight that greeted him inside was not one he could have ever guessed or anticipated. One of the kitchen chairs was overturned, while Hermione stood there in tears and Harry didn't look much better. His eyes were wild and he was clutching at his scar. 

"What the hell happened?" Ron asked immediately. He looked from Hermione to Harry but they didn't meet his gaze or even appeared to have heard him. "Hermione? What's wrong?"

"It's me. I did it. I relayed information to Voldemort," she said with a sob.

Ron didn't know what to do except stare at her. "What are you on about? Hermione, that's not possible."

"It's the truth, Ron," Harry spoke at last. "I saw it."

Had everyone gone nutters in the few hours he'd been gone? "I don't care what you think you saw," said Ron, standing protectively in front of Hermione. "What the fuck is wrong with you, Harry? Hermione would die before telling You-Know-Who anything!"

"She didn't tell him on purpose," Harry tried to explain, still holding his scar. "It's why she couldn't remember what happened that day she went missing. Voldemort did a spell that allowed him to go into her head and extract information."

"How do you know all this?" Ron said, his voice hoarse.

"Because I asked Harry to go in my head and see what he could find," Hermione told him, sounding slightly calmer. "Now, I know what I've done."

"You haven't done anything. This wasn't your fault," said Ron, still trying to catch up to speed on everything.

"He was using me for months to get information and I didn't know," she said, not listening to him.

Ron turned to Harry. "What is this spell he did?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "But it's not something that allows him to possess her fully, like what happened with Ginny and Tom Riddle. He realized Hermione's mind was too strong for that when he couldn't – "

Harry stopped himself looking sick and Ron pressed him to continue. "Couldn't _what_?"

"When Voldemort couldn't break me with the Cruciatus, he did the spell," Hermione supplied. "He thought once the pain got to be too much I would tell him everything but I didn't even give him so much as a name. Now that Harry's mastered Occlumency, Voldemort doesn't have a direct link to him and he's pretty much blind to what the Order is doing. He made me his new link."

"I don't understand. How could he do that with just a spell?"

"I don't really know either," Hermione admitted. "But it's obviously some kind of dark magic if he was able to block out just those specific memories and inflict pain similar to the Cruciatus in case I tried to remember anything."

"So what are we going to do?" Ron said.

"You and Harry aren't going to do anything," Hermione said and she walked out of the kitchen.

Ron and Harry exchanged a quick look before going after her. They found her in Ron's room packing a duffle bag.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked her.

"Well, I can't stay here, can I? I don't know how Voldemort is getting information from me and that means I'm putting everyone in danger, especially Harry. If I'm going to figure this out, it's going to have to be away from here."

She had said You-Know-Who's name so many times in the last five minutes it would have made Ron shudder if he hadn't been so preoccupied with what was going on. "You said so yourself, you don't know what this spell is. What if you can't figure it out?"

"I'll figure it out."

She said it in that know-it-all voice that drove Ron mad. "For once in your life accept the fact that you don't know everything! Damn it, Hermione, let us help."

She shook her head sadly. "I cant." There would be no dream team or famous trio this time. She had to figure this out on her own.

"We could go to Dumbledore," Harry suggested. No one was more surprised than himself when he made the suggestion.

"Have you gone mad?" Ron rounded on him. "We can't tell anyone about this. Do you know what Moody would do if he found out about Hermione?"

"We can't screw around with this, Ron," he said sharply. "We don't have time to waste researching a counter spell or a way to break the link. Once Voldemort figures out Hermione knows he might try to possess her fully." He hadn't wanted to say that last part but this was too serious for them to play ignorant. "Look, Dumbledore's been keeping secrets from me my whole life so he obviously doesn't have a problem with it. Believe me, he's the last person I want to go to for anything but if anyone knows a way to help Hermione it's him."

"He's still at Hogwarts, isn't he?" Said Ron.

Harry nodded. "We could leave now and be back before anyone notices we're gone." He looked at Hermione. He had Ron on his side about this. He just needed her to agree to it.

And she finally did. What she didn't tell them was if Dumbledore couldn't help she really would leave until she could be sure Voldemort was out of her head for good.

* * *

It took longer to reach Hogwarts than the trio would have liked, but since they couldn't just apparate onto school grounds, they were forced to take several portkeys to complete the trip. The Hogwarts Express was not an option because it would have taken far too long. 

When they finally made it to the school grounds, some of the urgency Harry had been feeling before wore off. Despite the circumstances, it felt good to be back. He had never felt like he really fit in anywhere besides Hogwarts.

"Maybe we should have sent an owl ahead," Ron interrupted his thoughts. "What if he's not here?"

There was only one way to find out. They took the path that led to the main doors of the castle and Harry pulled them open. He waited in the doorway for a moment to see if anything would happen but no boils on his skin appeared and nothing else gruesome happened.

"So just anyone can walk in here?" Ron said. That didn't seem safe. He would have thought that when Dumbledore closed down the school he would have put some safety charms around it.

"It's probably a recognition charm," said Hermione quietly. "The school recognizes who we are which is why nothing happened." She stepped passed the boys to enter the main hall.

When Ron and Harry followed, she was already climbing the marble staircase.

It was strange to see the school this quiet, even during the Christmas holidays there had always been enough people to make it seem occupied. But now, there weren't even any ghosts floating through the halls. It made Hogwarts feel abandoned.

They stopped at the end of a corridor with a Phoenix statue inside a small alcove.

"Who wants to guess the password?" Said Harry, looking at his friends.

"What was it when school was still open?" Hermione asked.

"Fizzing Whizbee," Harry replied.

Nothing happened. The Phoenix remained where it was.

They started calling out names of candies at random.

"Bertie Botts Every Flavour Bean," said Ron, who had been listing all his favourite candies.

There was a low rumbling sound and the Phoenix statue began to move. A spiraling staircase appeared from underneath the ground, continuing to grow and twist as the Phoenix statue moved upwards.

Without a word, the trio began climbing the steps.

The door to Dumbledore's office was open, so they just walked in. The portraits of Headmasters of Hogwarts past began to chat excitedly, probably not having seen another person aside from Dumbledore in a while. Harry found it somewhat unsettling that they all seemed to recognize him. He supposed it should not have been that surprising considering all the times he had been in Dumbledore's office over the years.

"I must say this is an unexpected surprise," said Dumbledore appearing out on the landing from behind his desk, which presumably led to his private quarters. "I'll dispense with the small talk since you three obviously wouldn't have come all the way here if it weren't important."

They moved to stand just in front of Dumbledore's desk, Ron standing protectively beside Hermione since they had entered the Headmaster's office. It wasn't that he didn't trust Dumbledore, but his first instinct was to protect the person he loved.

Dumbledore descended the short staircase and waited patiently with his hands crossed behind his back.

"It's about Voldemort," Harry began, taking the lead.

Dumbledore bowed his head slightly, indicating Harry should continue.

"He's been using him Hermione to spy on the Order for him." Harry went on to explain how Hermione had asked him to help her recover her lost memories and what he had found. He didn't give too many specifics of her torture because Dumbledore was smart enough to put the pieces together himself.

Dumbledore, who had remained silent and expressionless during Harry's explanation, immediately turned his attention to Hermione, looking very serious. "How do you feel, Miss Granger?"

She wasn't sure what he meant by that. He should already know she felt sick and ashamed at having betrayed her friends and the Order. Harry and Ron could have died in that Death Eater raid, and Death Eaters had taken Lupin hostage. She didn't even want to think about the Christmas Ball and all the destruction that had resulted.

"I'm sorry, I should have worded that more clearly," Dumbledore said, when she didn't answer. "Do you feel tired? Are you sleeping well or have you been plagued by nightmares?"

"I haven't been sleeping well, sir. I've been having nightmares and when I wake up I can't get back to sleep afterwards."

"How long has this been going on?"

"A couple of months," she admitted slowly. Even Ron didn't know that part.

Dumbledore nodded, his eyes shining with sympathy. "Have you been blacking out at all during the day? Or you find yourself doing something that you can't remember starting?"

"No," she replied shaking her head.

Dumbledore turned his gaze to Harry. "Your scar hasn't bothered you at all in weeks, is that correct?"

Harry wondered how he could possibly know that. "That's right. It was fine until I touched Hermione's memories."

Ron was growing impatient. Dumbledore was standing there looking deep in thought. He had asked all these questions but they still hadn't received the one answer they had come there looking for. "Can you get that _thing_ out of her head, or not?"

The old wizard smiled apologetically at him for having grown silent. "I believe I know what method Voldemort is using to possess Miss Granger. It's a well-known spell that's been used throughout time because it is difficult to remove the caster's presence from the mind unless the spell caster is dead."

"So there's nothing you can do?" Said Ron, so Hermione wouldn't have to.

"I did not say that," Dumbledore corrected. "However, Miss Granger and I have a lot of work to do. Harry, Ron, I've made Gryffindor Tower available to you. The password is Snitch. I'll have the house elves bring you up something to eat."

"We're not staying?" Ron said, echoing Harry's own thoughts.

"It would be best if we proceeded without interruption. Nothing must go wrong," he told them. "Don't worry, Miss Granger is in very capable hands," he said, seeing their skepticism.

"I'll be fine," Hermione said softly, giving Ron's hand a reassuring squeeze.

Ron still didn't like the idea of leaving her alone any more than Harry did. But Dumbledore was a good man and one of only a handful of people he would trust Hermione's life with.

As he and Harry left the Headmaster's office, Ron heard the door shut and lock behind them.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty-Two

Despite everything that was going on, it felt strangely satisfying and comforting to be back in the Gryffindor common room. There was a war going on but being back at Hogwarts made him feel safe and detached from what was going on outside.

Dumbledore had been good on his word as there had been a large tray of turkey and roast beef sandwiches with a pitcher of pumpkin juice waiting for them when they had walked through the portrait hole. Ron, who was never one to turn down food, found he didn't have much of an appetite after finishing only half a sandwich. Harry had barely touched his own roast beef sandwich. He just sat there staring at the orange flames in the fireplace, deep in thought.

To Ron, Harry seemed a lot calmer than he thought he would be after telling him about Lupin. Sure, there had been some shouting and cursing, but Harry had quieted down pretty quickly and had stayed silent since.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," Ron said, feeling a bit guilty.

"It's okay," Harry said in understanding. "I would have done the same thing."

Ron felt relief at that. Relief because Harry wasn't angry with him and relief because he wasn't the only one who had doubted if they could trust Hermione. But with the relief came shame because he never wanted to have those thoughts about her.

Harry tore his gaze away from the fire. "You did the right thing. If Voldemort didn't already know Lupin had escaped he could have learned about it through Hermione. Hermione will understand why you didn't say anything. She cares about Lupin a lot."

Ron sank deeper into the couch. "That doesn't make me feel any better about not trusting her."

"I feel the same way," said Harry, his voice low. He felt tired and defeated. Mastering Occlumency was supposed to help protect the people around him, but Voldemort had found a way around it. The memory of Hermione's torture was still fresh in his mind, as if he had witnessed it first hand. He would never allow himself to forget what she had endured. That she had chosen to writher in agony for hours rather than betray him and the Order.

"What happened to her?" Ron asked him, his voice dark.

Harry wasn't sure he should be the one telling him but knew he wouldn't be able to dodge his friend's questions for long. "He tortured her," he started, his voice hoarse. "When he couldn't break her with the Crutacius, Voldemort decided the next best thing would be to use her to collect information. I don't know what he did after he put his wand to her head. My scar was hurting so bad by that point I lost the connection."

Ron had another dark thought. "You don't reckon he tried the same thing with Lupin, do you?"

Harry considered it carefully before shaking his head. "Hermione was only missing for a few hours. Lupin's been missing for days. I think he was taken because it was convenient, it wasn't planned like it was with Hermione. Anderson set the two of you up with the charms you were wearing. He didn't expect yours to stop working sooner, so they only got Hermione when they really wanted the both of you."

They heard the portrait hole swing open and both boys jumped to their feet when they saw Hermione enter the common room.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked before Harry could. He wasn't fond of the thought of asking if You-Know-Who was still crawling around in her head uninvited.

"I'm okay," she said, catching his meaning perfectly. "Actually, I'm better than okay. I think I've figured out a plan to defeat Voldemort for good."

Ron looked stunned. "You were only gone a few hours. I know you're brilliant and everything but isn't that impossible even for you?"

"It was Dumbledore's idea, really," she said modestly. "I just figured out how to make it work."

"Make what work?" Said Harry.

Hermione appeared less excited now. Probably because she already knew what their reaction to her plan would be. "We're going to lure Voldemort into the open by giving him false information."

Harry scratched the back of his head. "Er, how is that a plan exactly?"

"Dumbledore said it's risky to eradicate the presence of Voldemort in my mind while he was still alive. The alternative solution is for me to use a pensieve and take this potion – "

"Hang on," Ron cut in. "You-Know-Who is still in your head? And you're okay with this?"

"Of course I'm not okay with it," she said immediately, "but it's the way for us to feed Voldemort _misinformation_, as it's called in the muggle world."

Ron gave her a blank look. "Misinformation?"

"It's a tactic that's been used by muggles during times of war," she started to explain. "When captured by the enemy, POW's – Prisoners of War – " she clarified for Ron's benefit, "would appear to reveal top secret information under the duress of torture. This was really just false information they would give to their captors in hopes that they would use it and make a fatal attack or battle error. Hence, the term misinformation."

"How do you expect to fool Voldemort?" Harry asked her.

"Dumbledore thinks that because I haven't shown any strange behaviour when I'm awake means that Voldemort has been extracting information from me only while I'm asleep, which explains the nightmares. This means there's a way to control what Voldemort sees. I would use one pensieve before I go to sleep to remove all my regular thoughts and then use a second pensieve to import false memories into my head, which is what Voldemort will see."

"And you would just make up these memories?" Ron said.

"No, it takes a very powerful wizard who's skilled at Legillimency to be able to create a such a realistic memory. Snape or Dumbledore would have to do it."

Harry was extremely skeptical. "And you really think Voldemort will fall for it?"

"You believed Sirius was being tortured by Voldemort at the Ministry, didn't you?" She didn't mean to bring up that painful memory but she needed Harry to see how real these false memories could be.

"Fine, let's say this works," Ron said, hoping to keep Harry from thinking about Sirius. "How will this help us defeat You-Know-Who?"

"Over the next few weeks I'm going to use the penseive to show Voldemort that the Order has discovered a missing fragment to the prophecy that wasn't kept with the other prophecies in the Department of Mysteries. It will make it seem like the prophecy is right here at Hogwarts. That Dumbledore's been keeping it here all this time because he no longer trusted Fudge or the Ministry. Since Harry already knows what the first half of the prophecy said, Dumbledore feels it's time he learned the rest of it. If Voldemort went into the Ministry of Magic himself the first time for the prophecy, he's probably even more desperate now and would risk coming to Hogwarts, especially if he thinks it's abandoned. If he knows Harry will be there at the same time it's far too good of an opportunity for him to pass up. He hasn't been able to touch Harry since fifth year," she pointed out to them.

"So I'm the bait, then?" Said Harry. He wasn't angry, even if Dumbledore was using him again. He wanted this war to be over just as much as anyone.

"Actually, I am," said Hermione, her voice dropping considerably as both Ron and Harry's eyes locked on her.

"The hell you are," Ron stated, folding his arms across his chest.

"Dumbledore thinks that once Voldemort no longer decides I have information worth taking, he'll try to possess me fully. So once he realizes it's a trap and the Order is all over the school he'll possess me like he did with Harry at the Ministry in fifth year. But the difference is I'll be able to fight it off. I'm going to learn Occlumency. While he thinks he's in control of me I'll be able to hit him with a powerful spell that should give Harry the opening to finish him off."

"Hermione, I don't even know how I'm supposed to defeat Voldemort," Harry pointed out to her. "All I know is that both of us can't continue to exist. The prophecy didn't reveal any tips on how to go about killing him."

"It's not as if we've done any real research on the subject, now have we? Dumbledore was extremely vague about what we should be looking for but he seemed to think we would find the answer here."

"It always starts with some bloody book," Ron muttered under his breath. "How can you possibly think this is a good idea? This is the worst plan I've ever heard!"

"You would do the same thing in my position," Hermione countered.

"We're not talking about me – we're talking about _you_. You're going to risk your life on a hunch?"

"It's not a hunch. Dumbledore believes this will turn the war in our favour and I think he's right. Too many people are dying. We can't keep staying on the defensive. The Order needs to start taking a proactive role, otherwise we're going to lose."

"I still don't see why it has to be you," Ron argued.

"Ron, you know why it has to be me," she said earnestly. "If Voldemort thinks he's possessed me, he'll make himself vulnerable. Right now he's far too powerful to be taken out by a simple wand fire attack. A spell will have to be used on him at close range and I'll be able to get the closest."

"I always knew you were mental, but this – " Ron shook his head, too angry to continue and started towards the portrait hole.

Hermione followed after him. "Ron, please don't be mad about this," she pleaded with him.

"I'm not mad," he said in a voice that clearly indicated he was. "Why would I be mad that my girlfriend plan's on sacrificing herself to a Dark Wizard?"

"Ron – "

He held up a hand for her to stop. "Forget it. I better go see if I can find us a table at the library," he said, his voice laced with sarcasm before stomping out the portrait hole and letting it swing shut on Hermione.

* * *

Hermione indeed found Ron in the library, and to his credit had a stack of books on the table in front of him. The one currently open in front of him, he was flipping through the pages so roughly she felt sure he was going to rip them. 

She said nothing, but simply leaned on the the chair directly in front of him. She couldn't force him to be okay with what she was going to do, but she didn't want to fight any more at the moment about it either.

Ron slammed the book shut with such force it reverberated throughout the gigantic library. "If Dumbledore's so clever that the answers to Harry defeating Voldemort are here he could have at least told us what book to look in."

He sounded irritated and angry and Hermione knew it was more directed at her than Dumbledore's vague instructions. "I got the impression he couldn't tell us directly what to look for. I don't know why but it must be for a good reason," she offered.

"Where's Harry?" He asked, standing up, and still avoiding looking at her.

"He wanted to talk with Dumbledore."

Ron gave a curt nod and started walking towards the stacks of bookshelves that led to the Restricted Section. He already had a mountain of books sitting in front of him, so she figured he was doing it more to get rid of her than anything else, even when he already knew she wasn't one to give up that easily.

"Ron, look at me."

"I'm busy," he growled, taking a sudden interest in reading the titles off the spines directly in front of him.

She still intended to stick with her original plan of not forcing him to be okay with everything, but he at least needed to hear her out. It seemed the only way to do that was by taking matters into her own hands.

She cupped both sides of his face with her hands, forcing him to face her. Even in this position, Ron was choosing to move his eyes in any direction that wasn't looking at her.

"We're not in third year anymore, Ron. Ignoring this isn't going to make it go away."

He pushed her hands away, saying, "I said everything I wanted to say back in the common room. But as usual, you chose to ignore me because Hermione Granger always has to be right!"

His words stung a little, but he was upset and she could understand why he was acting this way.

"This isn't about what's right or wrong. It's about doing what needs to be done to make a difference."

"I can understand Harry wanting to sacrifice himself because he's always pulling that hero bullshit, but you, I'd have thought you'd want to live," he said, his voice faltering slightly.

"God, Ron, I don't want to die," she said, feeling close to tears.

"Then don't do this," he said in a rough voice. "Because Dumbledore can swear up and down you're going to be safe doing this _minsnoformation_ or whatever the hell it's called but it'll never be enough to convince me. And there's no way you can look me in the eye and tell me you'll be able to fight You-Know –"

"For god sake's, Ron. Just say his name!" Hermione cried.

"You-Know-Who – " Ron repeated just to infuriate her further, "off if he tries to possess you. He's the darkest wizard to ever exist and a few Occlumency lessons here and there aren't going to help you. What if he puts you under the Imperius curse? What are you going to do then?"

"Nothing is ever one hundred percent sure. I know the risks that are involved and I don't want to do this but Voldemort's in _my _head – not yours, not anyone else's. Every part of this plan scares me to death but I know I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try. Ron, you would feel the exact same way if our positions were reversed."

He knew he would be doing the same thing, but the fact of the matter remained that it wasn't him putting himself on the line like that. And he knew how badly this could turn out, and he couldn't fathom the thought of what he would do if something happened to her. He also knew they couldn't keep having this conversation when they were each too stubborn to budge from their current stance on the issue

"Ron, please don't leave like this," she said as he started to walk away. "I need you to understand – "

"Hermione, I love you," he said, stopping and facing her. "But I need to be alone right now."

He walked away from her for the second time that day.

* * *

Harry wondered if it was even possible to surprise Dumbledore. The Headmaster always seemed to know what was going on and was never caught off guard. Further proof of this was established when Harry entered his large office and Dumbledore sat behind his desk looking like he had been expecting him for sometime. 

"What can I do for you, Harry?" Dumbledore said in a tone that indicated he already knew Harry's reasons for coming to see him.

Harry wasn't in the mood for mind games or small talk. "You look like you've been waiting for me, so I think you know why I'm here," he said, his voice taking on an edge.

Dumbledore folded his hands in front of himself. "You're upset because of what Miss Granger has decided to do."

"No, you're the one who put the idea in her head," Harry clarified. "Despite how I feel about you, I put that aside because I thought you could help her. I trusted you!" He shouted at Dumbledore. "And once again trusting you turned out to be a huge mistake."

"Harry, I fully understand why you are so upset, but believe me I did not trick or coerce Miss Granger into doing anything. She is such a strong-willed young woman, I doubt it's possible for anyone to force her into something she doesn't want to do."

"She's not your good little soldier either, and neither am I! You were supposed to help her but you just used her, the same way you've been using me all these years."

"You need to understand that the other option was not much better. The risks involved in removing another's essence from one's mind while that wizard is still alive are almost too great to attempt. Once Voldemort is dead his presence will be removed from Miss Granger's mind automatically at no risk to her. I gave Miss Granger a choice and you can imagine why she chose the alternative." Dumbledore looked at Harry closely, his eyes reflecting a lifetime's worth of sadness. "I fully understand your anger towards me, and at the very least it's what I deserve. But you should know that every choice I've made since you were born was aimed at protecting and keeping you safe. Some of them were selfish choices but I still stand by them. I suppose this is reflective of the muggle saying _the road to hell is paved with good intentions_. I only had your best interests at heart, Harry, please believe that much."

Harry stuffed his hands in his jean pockets and said nothing. He had believed for years that Dumbledore had looked after him as he might his own son, but he wasn't that naïve anymore. If the old wizard had just been honest with him instead of deciding to keep him in the dark about most things, his life might have turned out differently. Some small part of him still blamed the Headmaster for Sirius's death.

"You must also learn to accept that you alone cannot defeat Voldemort," Dumbledore said, bringing the silence between them to an end.

"The prophecy says it has to me. I'm the one who has to kill him."

"You will have to cast the final blow, yes, but nowhere in the prophecy does it say you have to take him on alone. To do so, would be foolish and deadly. To defeat Voldemort, it will take the power of many. Don't doubt your friends' love for you, Harry. It's what will save us all in the end."

Harry didn't understand all of what Dumbledore was saying, but he was sure destroying Voldemort had nothing to do with love. Voldemort was nothing more than a vile monster who murdered his parents and committed countless other atrocities. That was what Harry would take with him into the final battle. The word love wouldn't even enter his mind as he tried to end the existence of the thing that had plagued the last sixteen years of his life.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty-Three

The sound of laughter coming from Remus Lupin's private room, made Harry and Hermione momentarily think that Mrs. Weasley had given them the wrong room number. But sure enough when they peered inside they saw Remus sitting up in bed and Ginny sitting cross-legged in a visitor's chair pulled up beside the bed.

Remus seemed to brighten even more when he saw the two of them standing there. Hermione was the first to give him a welcoming hug while Harry hung back.

"Private room, eh?" Harry said, arching an eyebrow. "It must be because of all your frequent visits.

"They say one more visit and I'll get a permanent room with a view," he said with a small chuckle.

"The view's nothing special," said Harry dryly.

"Did Ron stay at Hogwarts?" Ginny asked Hermione, seeing that her brother had not come in with them.

"He was in the middle of something," Hermione explained. "He said to go without him."

Harry had been a witness to those exact words spoken by Ron. It was a testament of just how tense things were between him and Hermione, if Ron was willing to stay behind and work instead of traveling with them to St. Mungo's.

"I'm going to stop by the cafeteria," Ginny announced, getting to her feet. "Do you need anything, Remus?"

"Thank you, Ginny, but I'm fine."

As Ginny left the room, Hermione not so gently poked Harry in the ribs, who chose to ignore the hint.

"You didn't have to come all the way down here. I know you three are in the middle of something important right now," Remus said to them

"Are you kidding me?" Harry said incredulously. He had been missing for days and then turned up in his werewolf state and Lupin expected them not to come see them?

"You're right, what was I thinking?" Remus said with a touch of humour.

"Why are you acting like this?" Harry asked, confused by Remus's nonchalant and almost joyous attitude. "The Department Head for Dangerous Creatures wants to throw you in Azkaban. I'm surprised he's even considering giving you a trial when Sirius didn't even get that. They just locked him away." He saw Hermione cringe out the corner of his eye, but he kept his attention focused on Lupin.

"Langley has every right to want to see that I have never have the chance to harm any living being again."

"He's prejudice against werewolves, not to mention a Death Eater," Hermione supplied.

"_Suspected_ Death Eater," Lupin carefully reminded the two of them. "There's currently no evidence linking him to dark wizard activities. It's a very serious offence to accuse someone of being a Death Eater if there's no proof to back it up."

Harry stared at him in disbelief. "How can you not be worried about this?"

"Without the cooperation of the Auror department, Langley's statement is not carrying as much weight as it could. Since the Ministry high council received Mad-Eye's report and his recommendation not to press charges, this thing could be tied up for months or even years. I highly doubt Langley cares weather or not he loses. I think this is more about creating a distraction than anything else."

"So that we all get caught up with your case and get distracted from the real issue, which is the war," Hermione said, catching on.

"Yes, that was my assessment," said Remus nodding. "Both Mad-Eye and Dumbledore seem to agree."

"And if Dumbledore agrees it must be right," said Harry coldly. "Merlin knows he's _never_ made a mistake in his life."

"Harry!" Hermione admonished.

He ignored her reproach. "For fuck's sake, Remus. He couldn't save your best friends' lives and you're going to trust him with yours?"

"You of all people should know that Voldemort had already marked James and Lily for death. All Dumbledore did was buy your parents a little extra time. If you want to blame someone for their deaths then go ahead and blame me. They thought I was the spy and that was why they changed secret keepers at the last second and didn't tell me!"

Harry, feeling like he was on an emotional overload stormed out.

Hermione, feeling extremely awkward and that she had to say something, said, "he's just upset about Dumbledore's plan."

"That and he's mad at the world," said Remus, sounding calmer now. "In that respect, Harry's like every other seventeen year old."

Hermione thought it ironic that if Harry wasn't so angry he would be happy to know there was at least some part of him that was a normal teenager.

"Dumbledore called an emergency Order meeting," Remus started, dragging her away from her thoughts. "And from what Tonks tells me, even I have a hard time believing he's condoning such a dangerous operation. Dumbledore has always had his reasons in the past for doing certain things and they've usually turned out to be right. I hope this time is no exception."

Hermione hoped so too. Otherwise, a lot of good people were going to die.

* * *

When Ginny joined him on the stone bench inside the magically created hospital garden, she could actually feel his surprise. 

"How'd you know where to find me?"

"You spend a lot of time at St. Mungo's. It's not hard to figure out where you would go," she responded.

"I'd have thought you'd gone back to Hogwarts by now."

Harry could hear the resentment in her voice at being left out yet again. "I needed some time to think and clear my head first."

"I've been doing a lot of that lately," Ginny said, hugging her jumper tight around herself as a gust of wind kicked up.

"I'm really sorry for what I said about Percy," he apologized, knowing he should have said that days ago.

"I got so upset because I knew you were right," she told him. "After Percy left home, none of us really knew who he was anymore."

"I was still an insensitive git for saying it," Harry noted.

"I won't argue with you on that," she said and they shared a smile.

That left Harry with the impression he and Ginny were going to be all right.

"Do you love me, Harry?"

That was, until she asked him _that_.

When he just sort of gaped at her and began to fidget, she said, "it's a yes or no question. Since you can't seem to decide, I have my answer."

Harry stared down at his hands. "Ginny, just because I can't say it doesn't mean I don't care about you _a lot_."

"I don't doubt for a second that you care about me. But we're kidding ourselves if we think we're happy with the way things are. Maybe we rushed into this too fast. We both want different things right now and I don't want us to keep doing _this_. It hurts too much."

"I'm sorry," he said, his green eyes locked on her.

She reached for his hand and squeezed it tight. "It's okay. I'm not upset or cross with you. I know how hard you tried, even when I didn't always make it easy for you," she said giving him a smile. "I think we both just need some time apart. If when you're ready you decide this is what you really want, I'll be here."

He didn't know if he would ever be ready for what she was asking him, but he wanted to be. He squeezed her hand back.

* * *

Ron closed another book and tossed it onto the 'no good' pile. "I'm trying to decide what's worse," he said to Harry, who was also having as much luck as him. "Studying for the O.W.L.s, studying for the Auror exam, or trying to find something in this great big library when we have no idea what we're looking for," he said, ticking off each option on his fingers. 

"Definitely the O.W.L.s," said Harry after giving it some thought. "I spent hours revising for Potions and still couldn't remember half of what my notes said."

"Yeah, that was a right nightmare," Ron agreed. "Hermione still won't tell me how many of Madam Pomfrey's de-stressing potions she had to take."

"Where is Hermione anyways?" Said Harry looking around. "She's been gone forever."

"Harry, it's the library," Ron said in an obvious voice. "You know, Hermione's favourite place in all of Hogwarts? She's probably sitting on the floor somewhere surrounded by a stack of books having forgot all about us."

"What did you do this time?" Harry dared to ask him.

"Me?" Ron exclaimed, taking offense. "Why do you just automatically assume it's my fault?"

Harry sighed. He tried his best to stay out of their bickering and rows and let the two of them eventually work it out but on that particular day he felt compelled to say something. "Because you're usually the one who says or does something to provoke her and Hermione can't help herself from responding. Before you know it the two of you are rowing over something just because you're each too stubborn to admit when you're wrong. It's like a constant cycle with you two. Sometimes I wonder if Hermione picks a fight with you or you pick one with her on purpose just for something to do."

"We have a healthy relationship," said Ron in defense to Harry's comments, even though his ears were burning slightly. "We don't keep things bottled up, you know? I think it's funny you're giving me relationship advice when you and my sister aren't exactly the spitting image of romance these days."

Ron didn't know just how right he was, but right then Harry didn't feel like getting in to any of it. "She loves you, Ron."

"I know that," he said, dropping his gaze to the table. He and Harry didn't usually talk about this sort of thing.

"No, I mean she _really_ loves you. When I was trying to help her remember, a lot of the memories I came across were of you. I barely had to touch them to know I've never felt anything like that before. I can't really describe it but it was powerful. I know we both don't want her to do this, but it's not like we've ever been able to stop her from doing anything before."

"So, you've finally come around to the idea of us together, yeah?" Ron asked him.

Harry nodded. He knew a part of himself would probably always be a bit envious of what his friends shared because he wasn't sure if he would ever have what they had, but more than anything he just wanted them to be happy. They had already proven countless times that their relationship would not change their friendship with him. He just wished he hadn't taken so long to see that.

Ron snorted. "Took you long enough, mate," he said, as if he'd read Harry's mind.

"Yeah, well, I can be a bit thick sometimes."

At the mention of being thick, Ron stood up and went to look for Hermione.

It was scary how dead on he had been about where to find her. She was sitting on the floor, leaning back against a bookshelf, with a half circle of books around her.

"They have this great invention. It's called a chair," he said, dropping to the floor beside her. "I hear they can actually be quite comfortable."

"I thought you were avoiding me," she said, marking a spot in one book before moving on to another one."

"I'm not the one who's hiding myself behind stacks of books instead of sitting with my friends."

She put down the book in her hands. "This is so stupid," she said, shaking her head and laughing.

"Finally, something we both can agree on," Ron said with a lopsided grin.

"You certainly seem to be in a better mood," she observed.

"I guess you could say me and Harry had a heart-to-heart of sorts," he told her. "No, there wasn't any hugging or crying," he added for her amusement. "We've just come to an understanding about certain things."

She didn't ask what about. She didn't have to know everything. Besides, it was good for Ron and Harry to have their own secrets.

He watched her expression fall. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, tilting her chin up.

"We still need to talk about all of this."

He fervently shook his head. "Not right now we don't."

"Ron, you can't just avoid – "

"I'm not avoiding anything," he cut in. "We can talk about this crazy plan and anything else you want after."

"After what?"

"Well, I happen to know for a fact that the boys' dorm is empty," he said, his tone suggestive.

"Oh? And what makes you think I want to go to up there?" She said coyly.

His grin broadened. "We could stay here if you want. I bet you've always fantasized about doing it in the library."

She blushed. "Don't tell me yours is a Quidditch pitch?"

Ron didn't look the least bit embarrassed. "I guess we know each other too well," he said leaning forward and capturing her lips in a fierce kiss.

When the kiss ended, she asked, "what should we tell Harry?"

"Nothing. Harry's a smart bloke. He'll figure it out for himself," Ron said, jumping to his feet and pulling Hermione with him.

Hermione didn't even think to argue with him on that, as she allowed herself to be led out of the library.

* * *

They were lying in Ron's old bed in the boy's dormitory, and if Ron chose not to think about anything and just focus on Hermione who was lying on his chest, it almost felt like they were still in school. Granted, they probably wouldn't have shagged on his bed in the middle of the afternoon with the curtains drawn open around his four-poster bed, he thought with a smirk. 

Hermione felt rather than heard his soft chuckle and lifted her head, "what's so funny?"

"I was just thinking that If we were still in school, there's no way you would have come up to my room and done this."

She knew she wouldn't have done it in such an obvious manner, like disappearing upstairs in the middle of the day, but that didn't mean she would be against the idea altogether. "I guess you'll never know. Besides, I probably would have been Head Girl in our last year, which means I would have had my own room," she added cheekily.

"I like the way you think."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "And what part of that did you interpret to mean I would be bringing you up to me room?"

"You sure as hell wouldn't be bringing any other blokes up there," he growled, and then to emphasize his point he rolled them over so he was on top.

"Is it some kind of male dominance thing that guys prefer to be on top?" She asked.

He rolled his eyes. Only Hermione would think to ask something like that. Before he could come up with a response, she was pressing her lips against his, then down his neck and throat, and he couldn't remember a single thing they had been talking about to save his life.

She was kissing her way down his chest, when she asked, "what time is it?"

Ron wanted to know how she was able to stay in control like that when she was making him lose his mind. Remembering what she had asked him, he glanced down at his wrist. "Harry's probably thinking we got lost somewhere we've been gone so long."

She stopped what she was doing. "Maybe we should go back."

Ron like her use of the word 'maybe'. It meant she didn't want to get out of bed and go back to that musty old library any more than he did. "I reckon we probably shouldn't leave Harry to do all the research," he said, just for good measure. But when he thought about Harry, his thoughts turned to the plan and he started to feel sick. He moved off of her to lie flat on his back.

Hermione could tell right away something was wrong. She rolled onto her side so she could look at him. "Ron?" She said his name softly.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said more harshly than he intended to. "Look, we just had a really great time and I don't want to ruin that by getting into another fight with you," he explained to her.

"We won't fight then," she said simply. "I promise," she added, seeing the skeptical look on his face.

After some hesitation, Ron decided to call her bluff. "How do you know you're going to be able to fight off You-Know-Who if he tries to control you? Harry had been practicing Occlumency for months and You-Know-Who was still able to possess him."

"Harry wasn't putting the effort into Occlumency that he should have been. He wasn't practicing on his own and doing the exercises that Snape had asked him to do to shield his mind," Hermione reminded him. "I wasn't going to say anything because it probably won't work, but we could use the sacrificial spell."

Ron cringed. "You want to do that spell again?" There was no way they were not going to get in a fight about this.

Hermione shook her head. "After what happened last time, I wouldn't want to chance doing the spell again. But the remnants of the spell is probably still inside us, which means technically that our souls are still linked."

"All right, so how does that help us?"

"Harry and I had to join our souls with yours to try and heal you. When we did that, our minds were linked and we could see each other's thoughts. So instead of trying to heal someone, that power could be used to seek out the real mind of a person who's been possessed and bring that consciousness to the surface."

"So Harry and me could do that to you? We could bring out the real you, just like that?"

"It can't be both of you. I think the problem with the spell in the first place was that no matter how much I could account and adjust it to include a third person, a sacrificial spell is only meant to include two people. One person performing a completely pure and selfless act in order to save another. You and Harry would have to decide which one of you is going to bring me back. But I think it should be you. Whatever link I have with Harry it wouldn't be as strong as the one I have with you."

_But no pressure_, Ron thought to himself jokingly. But no matter what, he wouldn't let anything happen to her. "If we're already going to be using the sacrificial spell to keep You-Know-Who from controlling you, it's too bad we can't figure out a way to defeat him using it."

Something in Hermione's eyes lit up. _No, it couldn't be that simple_, she thought sitting up, _could it_?

"What?" Ron said, seeing her brow furrow like she was trying to work something out. She didn't answer him and jumped out of bed. "You think we can use the spell to kill him?" He asked as she quickly dressed.

"I don't know. I don't think so," she said distractedly. "But you gave me an idea."

Ron looked dumbfounded. "I gave you an idea?"

She gave him a quick kiss, saying, "I'll explain everything later," and then hurried out of the dorm.

Ron quickly dressed and followed after. Hermione only just beat him to the library.

Harry looked up when he heard the both of them coming, but instead of heading towards him, Hermione turned and headed down an aisle.

"What are you looking for?" Ron asked her as Harry joined them.

"I'm not sure…"

Harry raised an eyebrow at his friend, seeing Ron's tousled hair and mismatched buttons, not to mention their wrinkled clothes.

"Shut it, Harry," Ron warned.

Harry just smirked.

Hermione ignored them, grabbing a couple of books and walking to a table.

"Are you going to tell us what's going on?" Harry said.

"Not yet," Hermione said, not really paying attention. "I need to research a few things first."

Harry and Ron exchanged a look. They knew better than to get in Hermione's way when she got like this. They cleared out of the library to let her work, hoping that soon she would let them on what the big secret was.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty-Four

It was Ron's turn to check on Hermione. Harry had gone to the library hours ago but Hermione had been tight-lipped about her progress. She had told Harry she wanted to be sure about it before going and getting their hopes up.

Ron had been secretly hoping she would return to the common room so he wouldn't have to make the trek down to the library. But when the clock showed it was almost midnight and she still wasn't back, he started to worry and went looking for her. He didn't care how safe Hogwarts was supposed to be. It obviously had its vulnerabilities if Dumbledore had felt it necessary to close the school.

He quickly discovered the reason Hermione was in the library so late. She was slumped forward in her chair with her face literally buried in a book while she slept.

Standing behind her, he swept her hair to the side and kissed the back of her neck. She stirred and gave Ron a tired smile.

"You didn't have come here. I was going to head back to the common in a bit," she said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Sure you were," he said, rolling his eyes. "Come back with me now. I know this stuff is important but you'll be able concentrate better after a good night's sleep."

"You sound like your mum," said Hermione, a smile tugging at her lips while Ron made a face.

"That's an insult and you know it," he said. He loved his mother but she could be scary when she wanted to be and was the worse nag he knew – far worse than Hermione.

"I've got some news that should make you feel better," she told him. "I think I was able to figure out how Harry can have a chance to defeat Voldemort because of you."

Ron blinked. "I did that?"

"Don't look so shocked. When you decide to apply yourself to something you can be quite brilliant."

Ron looked quite pleased with himself. "So I'm brilliant now, am I?"

"Don't let it go to your head."

Deciding to put the subject of his supreme intellect aside for the moment, he said, "are you going to tell me what it is that you found?"

"I wanted to wait until I ran it by Dumbledore to make sure that it would work, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to explain the basics of it to you." She closed the book still open in front of her and pushed it aside. "All this time we've been looking for a way to defeat Voldemort by using some massive or powerful spell. We've been going through books from the Restricted Section thinking that we need some kind of dark magic in order to fight him equally. After you said that bit about using the sacrificial spell I started thinking and realized we'd been going about this all wrong. You can't beat Voldemort with magic that's on the same level as him. The only way to fight him is with the one type of magic he can't defend against – _love_. Friendship, selflessness, loyalty and about a million other things are all a part of something much bigger, which is love. We know he can't defend himself against it because that's how Harry's mother was able to save him. Her love was so powerful it protected Harry when Voldemort used the killing curse on him and it backfired onto himself."

"So what do you plan on doing? Brewing him a love spell?"

"Not in the strictest sense, but Harry would have to be the one to do it. I'm just not sure if Harry will be able to do it without killing himself. "

"We both know Harry. Even if you explain all the risks to him he's still going to want to do it," said Ron, his features grim.

"That's why I think it's only fair I explain it to the both of you at the same time. It's too late now, so I'll go see Dumbledore first thing tomorrow and discuss this with him. If he thinks this will work, I'll explain everything to you and Harry."

Ron just stared at her amazed. "I think you've got things backwards. You're the brilliant one around here," he said and she blushed.

"Ginny broke up with Harry," she told him a few moments later.

Ron's mouth fell open at the news. "When? Where was I when this happened?"

"It happened yesterday. Harry told me about it when he came to see me earlier."

Ron looked slightly hurt. "He didn't say a word to me."

"Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that you reacted so well when they finally got together," she said to him in a knowing voice. "He was probably afraid you were going to pummel him or something."

"I wouldn't hit him unless he did something to her," Ron clarified. "But you said Ginny broke up with him, yeah?" He had never expected that to happen. He had always worried it would be Harry to break his sister's heart, since he had already done it so many times in the past, though unintentionally.

"I think Ginny's realized that Harry isn't ready for that kind of a long-term commitment."

Ron just wished Harry could have figured that out on his own without having to use his sister to realize he wasn't ready for a relationship. "Are you going to come to bed now?" He asked a minute later.

"I was thinking I might take a shower first."

Her eyes sought out his and he caught the suggestion loud and clear. "I think the Prefect bathroom is unoccupied," he suggested, grinning mischievously. "And don't even think about putting away these ruddy books," he ordered, pulling her to her feet. "We can do that tomorrow."

For the second time that day Hermione didn't argue with him. Ron could get used to this more agreeable side of her.

* * *

The Prefect bathroom was just as Ron remembered it. It looked just like the rest of the school, as if someone was maintaining its appearance to keep dust and other things away. He didn't say anything to Hermione because the last things he wanted to think about were cleaning charms and Filch when it was just the two of them alone in the massive room. 

While Hermione was running the water for their shower, Ron came up behind her and laced his arms around her waist. "At this pace, we could probably do it in every room in the castle within a week," he whispered in her ear.

He saw her blush. "Even Snape's office?"

"Oh yeah, that would be a real turn on with all those disgusting things in jars staring at us."

She laughed and began to take off her top, which Ron gladly helped her out of. They stripped quickly and jumped in the shower. Ron immediately jumped away from the spray of the water, swearing.

"Holy shit, this water is freezing!" He cried.

"Don't be such a baby," she tutted. She reached for the hot water tap and turned it on more. "There, better?"

He stopped pouting. "Yeah, but the next time you decide to haul me into a bloody freezing shower warn me first."

"Watch your mouth," she growled before sending her lips crashing against his and pushing him back against the shower wall.

Ron liked it when she was aggressive. Being the control freak that she was it was probably only natural that it transferred over to the bedroom. But Ron couldn't let all that power go to her head. She wasn't the only one who liked to dominate. He reversed their positions so she was now the one pinned against the wall before capturing her lips in a bruising kiss and wrapping one arm around her waist to pull her closer to him.

"I don't think we're going to have too many chances to be alone for the next little while," she said, breathing heavily as she stroked his face. She knew once she talked to Dumbledore and he agreed to do what she was suggesting, they would all have little time to do much else then get ready for what was to come.

Ron felt her start to shake in his arms. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I'm scared, which is silly really, considering everything we've been through a finally showdown with Voldemort should be nothing."

"There's nothing wrong with being scared," he told her, holding her closer. "He is the darkest wizard of all time."

"Are you scared?"

He considered using the normal male bravado but realized he was well passed that with her. "Well, yeah. A little. But don't go telling anyone I said that."

She laughed a little and seemed to stop shaking, so Ron saw no reason to start her worrying again by saying what he was actually scared about was something happening to her.

* * *

Harry had been awake and fully dressed since shortly after dawn. He wasn't having nightmares. Nightmares required more than an hour's sleep at a time. He had tried his relaxation exercises but nothing seemed to calm his mind long enough for him to fall into a deep sleep. Feeling restless, he had gone for an hour-long run through the grounds until he felt he had expended all his extra energy. He didn't think he was supposed to be wandering around out in the open, but if Dumbledore really wanted them to stay inside he should have charmed the front doors shut. 

When he returned to Gryffindor Tower, he was just about to head up for a shower when he heard the portrait hole open. He reached for his wand, which was hidden in the deep pocket of his trousers. He had heard Ron and Hermione come back late last night when he had been lying awake in bed. He didn't think even Hermione would be up by now and no one else knew the password except Dumbledore.

Relief and surprise washed over him when he saw Arthur Weasley appear in the common room.

Mr. Weasley beamed at him. "All right there, Harry?"

Harry managed a small nod and Mr. Weasley didn't seem to notice his shock. He was too busy gazing around the common room, looking reminiscent.

"It doesn't look a bit different then when I was here. Amazing," he murmured, shaking his head.

Harry was trying to figure out a way to ask what Mr. Weasley was doing there without sounding rude, when footsteps on the stairs behind him told him his friends were coming down.

When they reached the bottom landing Ron still had his arm around Hermione's waist and was whispering something in her ear that was making her giggle. When they realized someone else was in the common room besides Harry, Ron detached himself from Hermione and they both turned bright crimson.

"Dad?" Ron said in utter disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"Dumbledore wanted me to fetch you three. He thought you'd want to know what's going on out there. But I can see I may have come at a bad time," he said, raising an eyebrow at Ron and Hermione.

"We were just heading down for breakfast," said Hermione, feeling completely mortified. She didn't want to even think about what Mr. Weasley thought she and Ron had been up to.

"It's perfectly all right," said Mr. Weasley, not the least bit embarrassed. "Molly and I were young and in love once."

That was too much for Ron. "Dad, that's gross. Harry and Hermione don't want to hear about you and mum."

Mr. Weasley chuckled softly and turned towards the portrait hole. "Let me show you what's going on."

Ron passed by Harry, being sure to shoot him a dirty look. He could have at least warned him that his dad was standing in the middle of the common room.

Once out into the hallway, Mr. Weasley began leading them down several sets of staircases until they arrived at the landing overlooking the main hall.

They had a clear view of the castle doors opening and shutting as people moved inside, most dragging a trunk or carrying several bags with them. They recognized Kingsley and Tonks walking in and even picked out Neville and Lavender among the small crowd.

Hermione turned back to face Mr. Weasley. "What's going on?"

"What does it look like? We're moving in," George announced, bounding down the stairs alongside Fred.

"It's only a temporary arrangement," Mr. Weasley began. "Dumbledore felt that as the final battle will likely be fought here that we needed to begin making preparations."

Ron gestured below. "What are all these people doing here then?"

"Many of them are Order members. There's probably about half of them you've never meant because they've either been away on deep undercover assignments or their job is to simply report on anything suspicious they hear or see going on in the Ministry. The others are those we felt could be trusted and would want to accept such a dangerous role."

"Wait a minute. I haven't even gone to see Dumbledore yet with my idea. Isn't it a bit soon to be making preparations like this?" Hermione asked, feeling like they were all jumping the gun a bit.

"Dumbledore's expecting you as soon as you're ready," Fred piped up. "We just saw him."

"Best not to keep him waiting," Mr. Weasley said to Hermione. "Dumbledore's going to be a very busy man these next few days."

"I'm going back to the common room," Harry announced and didn't wait for anyone's response before beginning to climb the stairs.

"Don't mind him. He's just going to brood," said Ron and it earned him an elbow in the side from Hermione, causing the twins to snigger.

"Could you imagine what they'll be like when they get married?" George snickered.

"We already know who will wear the trousers in that house," said Fred.

Ron was too focused on how his brother used the word _when_ and not _if_ that he forgot to tell the twins to shut their traps if they knew what was good for him.

The twins comments didn't seem to faze Hermione at all, who left with his dad up the same stairs Harry had vanished from minutes before.

Fred's usual jovial expression disappeared as he looked below. "Whoa. What's he doing here?"

Ron followed his gaze and felt his fist involuntarily clench at his side. Draco Malfoy had just entered the castle and was slinking away into the shadows as if he didn't want to be seen.

"There's no bloody way the Order would allow him to stay here," George said.

"They let him stay at Lupin's for awhile, didn't they?" Ron pointed out. "But Malfoy would never risk his own neck for anyone, so what the hell is he doing here?"

"Dunno," George shrugged. "But Fred and I promised to help Angelina and Alicia unpack, so we'll see ya later," George finished with a wink.

"And when it comes to Malfoy, don't do anything we wouldn't do!" Fred called out to him as he and George climbed the staircase.

Ron didn't plan to do anything to Malfoy – yet. But he did intend to watch him like a hawk.

* * *

Harry was already waiting in the Head Girl's room when Ron and Hermione showed up. He didn't look happy to be kept waiting and Ron was only just able to restrain himself from saying something. 

Hermione shut the door behind her and Ron before casting a silencing charm around the room. With Gryffindor Tower now full of people she didn't want to chance being overheard. Not everyone needed to know the plan they had come up with to defeat Voldemort. Only a handful of Order members would be told about what Harry was going to in order to maintain absolute secrecy. It might also cause a bit of a panic, which was another reason Dumbledore wished to keep things low key.

Hermione got right down to business. "I had us looking in the wrong direction for a spell or some kind of magic to defeat Voldemort," she started as Ron toook a seat on the bed beside Harry. "I thought all we had to do was find a spell more powerful than him and we'd at least be able to make him weaker, if not destroy him. But when you get right down to it, Voldemort is the true essence of evil. Throwing powerful magic at him, won't slow him down. His body would likely just absorb it. As I said before we've been looking in all the wrong places for answers when we already know what his only weakness is, or at least the only one that's ever been discovered."

"And this would be what exactly?" Harry asked.

"Love," she answered. "Harry, when your mother died to save you, it was her love that protected you. Dumbledore even explained that to you back in first year. It worked because Voldemort couldn't comprehend what love was."

"Hermione, we've already been through this. Whatever that protection spell was, it doesn't work anymore."

"But it doesn't matter, don't you see? If one person's love was powerful enough to reduce Voldemort to such a pathetic state that he needed to share a body in order to survive, imagine what the love of a hundred people could do to him? He would be obliterated."

"Okay," Harry nodded, catching on, "but how are we going to do this? You're not planning on having a hundred people sacrifice their lives are you?"

"No, of course not, but there's also no need for it. You would be the one to channel all that emotion to Voldemort," she told him, watching as his face suddenly turned much more serious. "Harry, your empathy and telepathy are a direct result of your link with Voldemort, and your link with him is a result of your scar. If you were able to go into everyone's mind and take any feelings related to love, loyalty, friendship, and so on, and then throw it back at Voldemort through your scar it should be enough to destroy him. Remember what the prophecy said, _a power the Dark Lord knows not_? I think it was talking about love. It makes sense though if you think about it. No one has ever been able to harm Voldemort except you when you were under the protection of your mother's love - both when you were a baby and when you faced Quirrel in first year."

"How would I go into everyone's mind here in the castle and then be able to feed it through to Voldemort?"

"That's the tricky part. You've used your empathy on groups of people before but it was nowhere near this size and you didn't have to hold onto it for that long. I really don't know how long you'd have to hold the connection with Voldemort for it to work. You're usually pretty weak after you use your powers for a prolonged period of time and this is going to be much worse then that. Harry, you could die,' she said, a lump forming in her throat.

In typical Harry fashion he said unflinchingly, "I'll do it."

"Hang on, mate. Did you hear what she just said? You could die!"

"I heard what Hermione said," he said, looking at Ron. "I also know if there was another way you would have found it," said Harry, turning his attention back to Hermione.

"Harry, you should at least think about it," she said to him.

Harry looked grim. "What's there to think about? I know that I have to be the one to kill him. It's what the prophecy says, and I'm not going to drag this war on any longer while we try and find another less risky way to destroy him. More people will die and there's been too much death already."

There was nothing Ron or Hermione could say to convince him otherwise, and one look at their faces told him they felt the same way, though they would never say it.

A tiny part of Hermione was glad Harry was willing to do this, but an even larger part of her worried about what was going to happen to him. "You're going to have to practice," she told him. "On smaller groups of people first, to build up a tolerance, and then gradually increase the number of people you're trying to collect the emotions of. It's going to be difficult because you're going to have to sort through all the other emotions first. It won't be so bad now, but the day of the battle people are going to be frightened and angry, you're going to have to filter through all that. You'll also have to separate their minds from the Death Eaters that will be here that day. Voldemort's not going to stand around and allow you to concentrate. You'll have to do this quickly," Hermione finished, already sounding fretful.

"Let's say I'm able to touch everyone's minds and take out the positive emotions – "

"No, Harry, positive emotions are not enough," Hermione interrupted. "You need to find the love in everyone's mind. It doesn't have to be romantic love either. Love comes from many different things – friendship, family, the willingness to give up one's life for another – these will be some of the strongest feelings you'll come across. They're what you need in order for this to work."

"Okay, I take all those feelings you just talked about, and do what? Just project them at Voldemort using my mind?"

"Yes. You've done it before. You've projected things into Ron's mind and mine. You've also used it against Death Eaters. It's just you've never used it on this scale before but I believe you can do it. Since your scar is your magical connection to Voldemort, that should help make it easier as well."

Harry just nodded because he wasn't sure what was left to say. He had already made up his mind when he had walked in the room that he would participate in whatever plan Hermione had come up with. He wasn't going to change his mind just because it seemed near impossible to do.

"There's one more thing, but it's not about this," she said to him. "If Voldemort tries to possess me, Ron's going to try using the sacrificial spell to bring me back. I know it didn't work exactly the way it was supposed to but it did link our souls together. Harry, you're going to have enough on your mind without worrying about me too, and I think it would stand a better chance of working if it was Ron. Our bond is probably stronger."

Since Hermione had started explaining her plan to him he had forgotten about the risks she was also taking. He looked at Ron, who had a resolute expression on his face that nothing would get between him and Hermione.

"Are you okay with that?" Ron asked him.

"There's no one else I'd trust Hermione's life with," Harry answered unwaveringly.

Ron looked kind of embarrassed by Harry's response but he appreciated it all the same.

"So is that it?" Harry asked, turning his attention back to Hermione in an effort to end the awkward moment.

That was it. The only thing Hermione didn't add was she had no idea how much time they had to prepare before Voldemort attacked. She would start using that night the Pensieve Snape had prepared with the false memories. Chances were Voldemort wouldn't wait long to attack once he saw there was another part to the prophecy.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty-Five

Hermione managed to talk Harry into starting up the DA again. He hadn't wanted to but so many people kept coming up to him and asking Defense questions, he was getting a bit tired of having to answer the same questions over and over again. These same people were also the ones who would be risking their lives on the day of the final battle, so he felt compelled in a way to make sure they were prepared. Hermione had also pointed out it would be a good opportunity for him to practice collecting emotions from the people around him. He had felt uneasy about invading the minds of people he had called friends or at the very least acquaintances while at school, but Hermione had said it was for a good cause, and if they had been able to share what he was doing everyone probably would have approved. She had also pointed out he shouldn't be trying to read their personal thoughts, he should only be trying to to extract their emotions.

No one was under the age of seventeen, and it looked like most had already completed or were in the process of completing their magical education through home schooling or the like because of their knowledge of spells and charms that wouldn't normally appear before seventh year.

While Harry had walked around to check on everyone's progress, he practiced his empathy in between correcting fighting stances and other very minor things that could help to save one of their lives.

Now that the DA no longer had to be a secret, they were using the Great Hall, having pushed all the benches against the wall after dinner.

He walked back to where Ron and Hermione were practicing. Ron didn't need the practice, but he knew Hermione wanted to so had offered to be her partner. Harry had a feeling Hermione hadn't been expecting Ron to be as good as he was, even with his Auror training. She hadn't been able to break through any of his shields while he had broken through hers several times. Hermione was also starting to sweat at having to work much harder than Ron to block the hexes and curses he was throwing at her.

Harry ended the DA meeting almost two hours later, congratulating everyone on their improvement and that they would meet at the same time tomorrow. They had already known this as they had been meeting every night for the last week.

Ron and Hermione stayed behind to help him put back the house benches. When they were done, Hermione collapsed down on what would have been the Ravenclaw table.

"Did I wear you out?" Ron smirked at her.

Harry nearly choked on the double meaning the words had. He hadn't shielded his mind again when the others had left. Ron seemed to figure it out because his ears turned the trademark Weasley red.

"A little," she admitted, which was quite a feat for her. Hermione rarely liked to admit when someone was better at something than her – even when there wasn't too many things people were better at then her.

Harry quickly put his barriers back up when he saw her smile back at Ron. He didn't know what had gotten into them, but lately he had been making an extra effort to block them out completely when he was in a room with them. It made giving Hermione Occlumency lessons a bit uncomfortable for him at first, but she was grasping it much quicker than he had. She had learned to bury her thoughts and feelings more efficiently than he ever had. It had taken him months to work up anything resembling feeble resistance, and she had already come so far in just a little over a week.

In addition to Occlumency, they had also had to sit down with Ginny and explain Hermione's plan to her. While he and Ron didn't think it mattered if they tell her, Hermione was quick to point out the connection he still had with her. Ginny would know if he was in her head and thought it was only fair that they let her in on what was going on.

"You're not practicing with Lupin tonight, are you?" He heard Ron ask Hermione.

Hermione shook her head. "He's busy with Order business. I'm supposed to meet him tomorrow morning."

"How's it going?" Harry asked. He knew she was trying to get Lupin to teach her how to throw off the Imperius.

"It could be better," she said in a small voice.

Harry knew what that statement meant. "You can't throw it off, can you?"

She shifted in her seat. "Not yet," she said, not liking admitting that she was struggling with the Imperius Curse, even though only a limited number of people could successfully overcome its effects. "I can hear Remus's voice and know that I don't want to follow the instructions he's giving me but I can't stop myself," she said, the frustration evident in her voice. "Harry, I really wish you and Remus would talk," she said a minute later.

"We do talk," he stated evenly.

"I mean _really_ talk. You had that horrible row with him and neither one of you will – "

"I know you mean well, Hermione," he cut in sharply, "but leave it alone."

She didn't say another word about it. There was no sense in making Harry more upset.

"I'm going back to the common room, you coming?" He said to them.

"Not right now. We'll be up in a bit," Ron answered for the both of them.

Harry left them and went back to Gryffindor Tower. The common room was packed, so Harry made for the stairs leading up to the boys' dorm. He wanted to be left alone and he wouldn't get that if he stayed down there.

The door had only been shut for a few seconds when he heard a soft knock. He wanted to ignore it but he knew who was on the other side and decided to at least hear what she had to say.

"Is this a bad time?" Ginny said, stepping inside when Harry opened the door for her. "I'm sure you're probably in the middle of some good brooding."

Harry scowled. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Because it's true. I think you do it so often it could be considered a hobby." She was trying to make him laugh or at least crack a smile but Harry's somber expression remained.

"Where's Ron and Hermione?" She asked.

"Probably off shagging somewhere." He cringed as soon as the words left his mouth. He hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Ginny snickered and sat down on a nearby bed. "So you've noticed too? It's not as if they're making much off an effort to be discreet. They disappear for hours and then come back with those stupid grins plastered on their faces."

Harry didn't want to talk about his friends sex life. He had enough problems being in the same room with them in recent days.

"Are you all right?" She asked, changing the subject, like she was sensing his thoughts – which she probably was. "You seem on overload lately and when you came back to the common room you seemed upset about something."

Harry sat down on the bed across from her, a realization hitting him. "I've been projecting my feelings to you, haven't I?"

"I know it's not on purpose," she responded knowing where his thoughts were heading.

"I'm sorry," he said, giving her an apologetic smile. "I'll try harder to keep my own thoughts in my own head."

"Good," she said, smiling back at him.

Harry cleared his throat. "Er, is there something else you needed?"

The smile seemed to vanish off her face. "Hermione won't say anything, but I keep having this bad feeling about what you plan on doing. It's really dangerous, isn't it?"

He nodded.

"Is there a chance you could die doing this?"

He nodded again, but didn't look at her this time.

Now Ginny wouldn't look at him either and the silence stretched on until he couldn't take it anymore.

"I'll be okay. How many times have you told me I have a knack for getting out of impossible situations?" He said, trying to lighten the mood. "I know that you have this bad feeling, but I have my own intuition. I just have this strong feeling that I'm going to make it out of this alive. I can't explain it." He couldn't tell if she believed him or not, and he suddenly felt the need to confess something else to her. "I'm leaving, Ginny. When all this is over, I'm going away for awhile."

"Leaving?" Ginny said, the word sounding foreign to her own ears.

"I need some time to work through some stuff. I haven't told anyone else yet."

"Can't you do that here?" She asked, knowing it sounded selfish but not caring.

"No, I can't," he said, shaking his head. "I need to work through these things on my own. I need to figure out who I am when all this is done."

"I feel so stupid," she said, willing herself not to cry. "I thought when this was over we could work things out between us, but you're not even going to be around."

He got off the bed and knelt in front of her. "Gin, this is something I have to do. I wish you would understand."

"What I understand," she started, feeling hot tears spilling down her cheeks, "is that you'd rather be alone than with your friends and the people who love you."

"I just need you to give me some time," he said, covering her hand with his own.

"Harry, you've had six years worth of time. You can't expect me to keep wasting my life waiting for you."

"I know it's a lot to ask, and I'm sorry that my leaving is upsetting you – "

"_Upsetting me_?" She cried, yanking her hand out from under his. "I love you, Harry, but I really wish that I didn't because you make feel like such a fool."

"Gin – "

"Fuck you, Harry!" She shouted, jumping off the bed. She nearly barreled into Ron, who suddenly appeared in the doorway, but that didn't slow her down. She refused to stop until she reached the girl's dorm and slammed the door shut.

* * *

"Ginny?" Hermione called softly, peeking her head in the Gryffindor girls' dorm. 

"I put a locking charm on the door," was the response she received.

"Yeah, I know," Hermione said, sounding somewhat guilty at having broken the spell.

She walked over to the only bed with the curtains closed around it and after hesitating for half a second, drew them open. The younger girl was sitting with her knees up to her chest and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. She didn't look happy to see Hermione standing there.

Hermione decided to start off with something non-threatening. "Neville heard you and Harry arguing downstairs. He was worried about you. But I thought you'd appreciate if I came up come to check on you instead."

"I just want to be left alone," Ginny said. "I don't need you or Neville, or anyone else looking at me like _that_."

"Like what?"

"Like you pity me."

"Ginny, it's not like that at all. Nobody pities you, I promise you that."

Hermione sounded so honest, Ginny almost believed her. She remembered then what Harry had told her. He had probably expected she would keep it a secret. Well, she didn't owe Harry anything. "He's leaving, you know. When Voldemort's gone he's going to take off."

Hermione didn't look nearly as startled by this news as Ginny would have expected her too.

"I figured something like that might happen," she said, her voice much quieter now. "Harry's known his place in the wizarding world was to be The Boy Who Lived. As long as Voldemort was alive, he had a purpose. When Voldemort dies, in a way, part of Harry dies too. He no longer knows what he's supposed to do with his life. What becomes of The Boy Who Lived once he's fulfilled his destiny?"

"I don't care anymore," Ginny said angrily. "I_ can't_ care anymore. Harry's broken my heart too many times. I can't do this with him anymore."

"I know there's no excuse for the way Harry's been acting lately, but now that you've told me he plans on leaving, I think I know why he's been so cross with everyone. He's trying one last time to push us away. He thinks if we're angry with him then we won't miss him when he's gone. He's doing it to the people he cares most about – Remus, Ron, me, and now you. Even after all these years, Harry still hasn't figured out what unconditional love is. That no matter what happens or what he decides to do, we'll always be there for him and love him unconditionally."

As always, Hermione's reasoning made perfect sense, but Ginny wasn't too keen on logic at the moment. "That doesn't make me feel any better."

"No, I didn't think it would. And I don't know exactly what you and Harry fought about, but if you pull away from him you're giving him exactly what he wants. I'm not saying you should wait for him or anything like that, but try to fathom what he's going through and be there for him as a friend."

Ginny remembered then who she had almost collided with outside Harry's room. "I don't think Ron's going to be so level-headed. I ran into him when I left the dorm."

Hermione's eyes widened at this.

"Go and find them. I'll be fine," said Ginny waving a hand. She knew Hermione would want to go after her brother to make sure he didn't kill Harry.

Hermione gave her a look that said she would be around later if Ginny wanted to talk and then left the dorm.

She poked her head into the boys' dorm but it was empty. She took the absence of blood as a good sign. They weren't in the common room either.

"Hermione, what are you looking for?" Lavender asked, seeing her frenzied expression.

"Ron and Harry," she answered.

"They just left, looking like they were going to go at it," Dean supplied.

Hermione repressed a groan. That was not good. She left through the portrait hole, too distracted to thank Dean for his help.

She didn't have to go far. She could hear Ron's voice carrying in the hallway and to say he sounded angry was an understatement. She found them both standing close enough together that if Ron decided to take a swing at Harry he would hit him easily.

"I already told you I didn't do anything to Ginny!" Harry shouted.

"And my sister would tell you to fuck off and run from your room crying for no reason?"

"Trouble in trio paradise?" An amused voice drawled.

Malfoy was a few feet away and Hermione watched as both Ron and Harry seemed to forget about their own fight the moment they heard the Slytherin's leering voice. She knew this was a bad situation. The boys were already incensed and Malfoy showing up was not going to allow cool heads to prevail.

"Why don't you mind your own business and keep walking?" She snapped at Malfoy.

Malfoy shot her this look that resonated clearly within her but he didn't say what she was expecting.

"As if I have any interest in your sordid affairs," Malfoy responded. "But I am curious as to why I heard Weasley's little sister, Potter, and fucking all in the same sentence. Who would have thought littlest Weasley was such a – "

Ron's fist connected with Malfoy's nose with such force, he was actually sent stumbling to his knees with Ron still towering over him.

"You bloody bastard! You broke my nose!" Malfoy practically screamed as the blood started to trickle down his chin even though he was holding his nose with both hands.

Ron felt Hermione come to his side as if she were afraid he might do something else. "And that's not all I'm going to break if you say another word about my sister," he threatened.

After that, he let Hermione pull him away from the Slytherin without protest but not without getting a satisfactory look at Malfoy as he hobbled away. When he switched his gaze to look down at his girlfriend, she was sending him a look he knew all too well.

"What is wrong with you?" She rounded on him.

"What?" He said, shrugging. "It's not as if I'm going to get detention or get house points taken away, now am I?"

Harry sniggered and that earned him a cold stare from Hermione.

"Think this is funny, do you?" She said, altering her gaze between the two of them. "It's obvious that Malfoy doesn't want to be here and we don't even know why he's willing to risk his arse for muggleborn's and muggle-loving wizards when he hates the lot of them. You're right, Ron, this isn't school anymore, which means you don't know what Malfoy will do if you provoke him too far."

At least Harry had the sense to know how angry Hermione was and not use the 'he started it' defense like Ron currently was.

"Are you mental? He was the one who was talking about Ginny like she was some kind of – "

"You knew he was only saying that to get a rise out you and once again you rose to the occasion."

"I don't believe this," Ron said, wringing his hands through his hair.

"Believe it," Hermione snapped at him. "But I'm sure Harry will take your side. Honestly, you two were ready to pummel each other and then Malfoy shows up and suddenly the two of you are best mates again because Ron broke his nose." She shook her head, muttering the word, "_boys!_" under her breath before storming off.

Ron looked torn as to what to do. One minute he was fighting with Harry and now Hermione had blown up at him over something he had done to Malfoy.

"You should probably go after her," Harry suggested. "Try and calm her down before she tries to hex you."

_There's a comforting thought_, Ron thought to himself. "You coming?" Ron said over his shoulder. Harry shot him a look that Ron interpreted easily. He was the only one both brave and stupid enough to go after Hermione when she was in a temper like that. "All right, I'll see you back in the common room," Ron said and started walking away.

Now that Harry was once again alone, he felt the growling in his stomach start, which was his own fault. He had skipped dinner to avoid eating in the Great Hall with everyone. He figured there wasn't any harm in sneaking into the kitchens. There were Order members patrolling the halls at night but he knew their patrol patterns fairly well from sneaking out with his Invisibility cloak and was pretty sure he could avoid them.

Dobby had loaded him up with so much food, Harry needed a basket to carry it all. He was considering return to the common room but if Ron and Hermione had decided to make that their fighting arena, he was better off staying away for a while. He took a seat at one of the house tables and tucked in to a piece of shepherd's pie Dobby had given him.

"It seems you have an appetite after all."

Harry wasn't sure what was worse – being caught out after the imposed Order curfew or who he had been caught by. "I suppose," he said, shoveling another piece into his mouth.

Harry was utterly surprised when Dumbledore came around to sit directly across from him. He wasn't sure what the Headmaster wanted and to avoid having to answer any of his questions, he asked one of his own, "what's Malfoy doing here?"

"You mean other than walking around and getting his nose broken by a seemingly invisible force?" Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

Harry just stared down at his plate to avoid giving away anything incriminating.

"I'm sure Miss Granger will hand down a punishment worthy of Professor Snape," Dumbledore continued. "But that's not what you asked, is it? As difficult as it may be to accept, Mr. Malfoy is actually quite the capable wizard. His knowledge of Dark Arts and counter curses will likely come in very handy in the event of an attack. I assure you he would not be here if the choice to come had not been his own."

Harry found that hard to believe. Not about the Dark Arts stuff, but about Malfoy's decision to fight against Voldemort. He might have been an informant for the Order in the past but Harry had never fully trusted him.

"It's times like these when one's true colours appear," Dumbledore told him.

"I still don't trust him," Harry glowered.

"Nor should you. When all is said and done, at the end of the day we are only looking out for our own best interests. Human beings are extremely selfish creatures," Dumbledore finished with a smile.

Harry, figuring there was nothing else left to be said, stood up to leave.

"There is one more thing, Harry."

_There's always one more thing with him_, Harry thought feeling slightly annoyed, but sat back down regardless.

Dumbledore reached inside his robes and pulled out a glowing, circular object.

"That's a prophecy sphere." Harry had engrained in his memory what one looked like after the incident in the Department of Mysteries back in fifth year. "Is that the fake one you created to lure Voldemort here?"

"Yes and no," Dumbledore replied causing Harry to get irritated. He never could get a straight answer out of Dumbledore. It was always riddles and cryptic remarks with him.

Seeing Harry's expression, Dumbledore said, "yes, it is a prophecy sphere like those in the Department of Mysteries, but no, I did not fabricate it. It's real."

Harry just sat there in a stunned state. Another prophecy? His mind was overrun with questions and yet he couldn't seem to speak. Dumbledore took his stunned silence as reason to continue.

"Two years ago, when it became clear Voldemort was growing in power and found out there was a prophecy about himself and you, I knew the Department of Mysteries would become a target and that's why the Order was guarding it. I also knew that Voldemort would stop at nothing to find it because he thought it would reveal how to destroy you. The Order would lay down their lives to protect it but I knew that might not be enough. Voldemort's strength was already rivaling that of his last reign of power and he had only been back such a short time, I feared it would no longer be safe there. I took the prophecy with your name on it and with the help of an Unspeakable, I broke it into two parts. I had to leave enough of the prophecy in the sphere at the Ministry so that Voldemort would believe it was complete if he ever got his hands on it. The portion of the prophecy you heard has probably just generated more questions for you than answers. What I have here may answer some of those questions and make things more clear to you. Would you like to hear it?"

Harry swallowed hard and nodded, not able to find his voice.

Dumbledore tapped the sphere twice with his wand and it started to float in the air of its own accord. It hovered at eye level in front of Harry and a voice identical to the one that had been in the other prophecy began to speak.

"_The one who carries the Dark Lord's mark will challenge him a final time once the Dark Lord's control over one that is close to him ends. Much blood will be spilt and many difficult choices will be made that will affect all. The one he has marked protected will remain untouched as she carries the mark of his love. But he cannot protect them all. The sacrifice of his mentor will allow him to become strong enough to overcome the Dark Lord. The power the Dark Lord knows not must be discovered without interference for the intent to be pure and the act selfless." _

The prophecy sphere stopped spinning and the distant voice stopped. Dumbledore tapped it once with his wand before sliding it back inside his robes.

"You understand now why I couldn't tell you what to look for," Dumbledore spoke. "The discovery had to be made without the interference of an outside source in order for it to have meaning. The fact that Miss Granger discovered it does not lessen that detail, as a part of her soul is linked with yours because of the sacrificial spell you performed. As long as a person with whom you are connected to makes the discovery, it is seen as the same as if you had made the discovery yourself."

Harry's mind was still reeling and he barely took in a word of what Dumbledore had said. "Why go to all the trouble to make everyone think the prophecy here is a fake?"

"You saw what happened with the last prophecy in the Department of Mysteries. I could not risk the same thing happening before certain events came to pass. The coming true of this prophecy is paramount to the future of the wizarding world. If Voldemort had indeed got his hands on the entire prophecy he would have tried to change things. Prophecies are not written in stone. There is no such thing as a single path or destiny. Harry, your coming this far was all your own choosing. The prophecy merely guides your actions, it is not a predictor for the future."

"So what's said in here, there's still a chance it may not all happen?"

Dumbledore nodded. "The future is always moving and evolving. While events may not happen exactly as mentioned in a prophecy, they will come to be one way or another depending on the choices we make. If you chose to leave and not fight Voldemort then the prophecy would be nullified."

"But the prophecy knows I wouldn't do that," said Harry.

"But how do you know that?" Dumbledore asked. "Perhaps I have altered the future by splitting the prophecy in half. Prophecies are extremely complex. You could spend your entire life trying to uncover the workings of one and never really find understand it. A Seer's job is not to focus on the _why_, he or she is simply supposed to state what is to come. You see, Harry, even a prophecy is not a true indicator of the future. It is the choices we make that ultimately decide our destiny. Now, I'm sure you would like to discuss things with Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley, but I must ask that you keep it to yourselves for the time being."

Harry forced himself to nod. He was still trying to work through everything that had been thrown at him.

"I know you must have a lot to think about," Dumbledore said. "But I suggest you do it elsewhere. Alastor will be patrolling through here shortly."

That finally seemed to drag Harry out of his stupor and he left the Great Hall. He walked in a daze back to Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

It was really late when Harry finally returned to Gryffindor Tower and ventured up to the Head Girl's room. Ron hadn't been down in the nearly empty common room and he wasn't in the boys' dorm either, so he figured they would probably both be together in Hermione's room. If they were still hacked off with one another, it might be best to wait and tell them about the prophecy in the morning. Well, there was only one way to find out. 

He knocked on the door and after a few seconds Hermione answered looking surprisingly calm and even a bit chipper. Ron was lying on the covers of the bed with his arms behind his head.

"Sorry, we can talk in the morning," said Harry, feeling like he had interrupted something.

"No, Harry, it's fine," she said, grabbing his hand and yanking him into the room so he wouldn't leave.

While Hermione closed the door, Harry marveled at how quickly Hermione's attitude had changed. A few short hours ago she had been steaming at him and Ron, and now she seemed to have forgotten all about it. This had to have been some sort of record. He would have to ask Ron later how he had managed to get her to forgive him so quickly.

Hermione studied him closely. "What's wrong?"

There wasn't really any point to beating around the bush, so he just came out and told them. "There's another prophecy about me."

Ron, who had been silently scowling, since he felt Harry had apparently interrupted something, sat up suddenly, his face carrying a bewildered expression.

"It's not exactly another prophecy," he continued. "It's more like Dumbledore took the original prophecy and split it in half in case Voldemort ever got his hands on it." Before they could barrage him with any questions, he plunged on about what Dumbledore had told him, trying to recall the exact words of the prophecy as best he could. He also mentioned why Dumbledore had lied and wanted everyone to think this prophecy was a fake. When he was done, he was thoroughly surprised to discover both his friends remained quiet for some time. Hermione's silence was especially surprising, considering how she had reacted when he explained the prophecy to her the first time last year.

"No wonder Dumbledore couldn't tell us anything about how to defeat Voldemort. I just assumed we'd find the answer in a book," Hermione said at last.

"I guess books really don't have all the answers," Ron remarked.

"The point is," Hermione continued ignoring Ron, "is that it clears up a lot of things."

Ron and Harry exchanged blank looks, causing Hermione to sigh in irritation.

"Dumbledore didn't want to force a final confrontation with Voldemort before he knew it was the right time. The right time wasn't until after we figured out Voldemort was using me to steal information about the Order while I was asleep. _The one who carries the Dark Lord's mark will challenge him a final time once the Dark Lord's control over one that is close to him ends_," she recited the prophecy's words.

"I'm glad this is all making sense to you. Maybe Dumbledore should have let you hear the prophecy first," Harry said sarcastically.

"But what does that marked by his love stuff mean?" Ron asked.

"It's Ginny," Hermione said instantly. "It has to be," she insisted, seeing the look on Harry's face.

"Hang on, I didn't _mark_ Ginny," Harry said defensively, not looking forward to another round of shouting with Ron.

"Not on purpose. But you do have that empathic connection with her. It may not leave any visible mark but it's there. It's like the mark your mother left on you. It's love, Harry. Subconsciously you chose her and now she's protected. That's why Dumbledore realized you didn't need to stay away from her when she continued to show signs of your abilities but her connection to everyone else disappeared. He recognized it for what it was."

Harry was growing increasingly uncomfortable with this line of conversation as Ginny's older and menacing brother was sitting just a few feet away from him. "Is that why after my powers surfaced, I began feeling this connection to Ginny?"

"I think so," Hermione agreed. "And in order for Ginny to accept this _mark_ you were giving her she would have to love you back, and that's why her link with you didn't show up right away. This just further proves my theory that the power needed to defeat Voldemort is love," Hermione said excitedly. "Love is more powerful than any known magic or spell. It's completely pure because it comes from the heart."

"What about the bit about a mentor's sacrifice will pave the way for my last fight with Voldemort?"

Hermione's excitement deflated instantly. "A sacrifice usually means giving one's life up for another, but it doesn't always mean death. It's exceptionally hard to read a prophecy literally word for word. There's hidden meanings everywhere."

"You don't suppose it was talking about Lupin, do you?"

"Oh, Harry," she breathed, not realizing who he had been thinking of. "You've had more than one mentor in your life. It could be Snape for all you know. He was the one to teach you Occlumency after all."

"Fat chance that git would ever sacrifice himself for me," Harry muttered.

"This is exactly why Dumbledore didn't want everyone to know about the rest of the prophecy. You're going to worry yourself to death, Harry. There's nothing you can do except prepare for you part and trust the rest of us to do the same. You're not going to do anything foolish, are you?" She asked, knowing him far too well.

What could he do? Even if he went to Remus and told him what the prophecy said it wouldn't change anything. Remus wouldn't refuse to fight any more than he would. Hermione also had a point. Mentor was a pretty vague term and they didn't know what type of sacrifice would be required. But she also said almost all sacrifices involved the act of giving up one's life for another.

"Harry?" Hermione pressed.

"No, I won't."

"Won't _what_?"

"No, I won't do anything foolish," he said, his answer finally satisfying her. "I'm going to bed," he announced, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

"Harry – " Hermione started but Ron gently touched her arm and shook his head, telling her this was not the time to press the matter. Ron was somewhat surprised that she heeded his silent warning. But she had been making an effort to listen to him more lately. And as Harry left the room, he hoped his friend would follow Hermione's advice and not do anything stupid.


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty-Six

The attack happened on a Saturday. Hermione and Ron had finally persuaded Harry to come out of his room and grab some food from the kitchens. Something Hermione normally didn't approve of, but since Harry seemed to have stopped eating altogether unless food was forced on him, she found this approach more than acceptable.

Harry had put one foot on the stairs, when his whole body began to shake and his friends latched onto his arms to keep him from falling head first down the stairs. While they pulled him back to the floor level, Harry writhed in pain and crumbled to the floor.

"Harry!" Hermione cried out in alarm.

He was thrashing wildly and clutching his scar, which Hermione noticed with horror was turning a bright red almost as if it were on fire.

"He… he's here," Harry choked out.

Neither Ron nor Hermione needed to ask which _he_ Harry was referring to.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut, trying to summon the strength to block the murderous rage exploding through his head. He didn't know if it was his Occlumency or his other powers that finally kicked in, but it reduced the ache in his head to a throbbing echo. Having regained control of his body he tried to stand, but his legs were still shaking so badly he was having trouble keeping his balance.

"Mate, you shouldn't try to stand. You were just – "

"No," Harry practically shouted, his voice rough. "I need to find him."

"Harry, you can't possibly be thinking of going after Voldemort in your present condition," Hermione tried to dissuade him.

"Something's happened. He's excited," said Harry, ignoring Hermione. He winced as he reached up to feel his scar. It was raw and painful.

"Whatever's happened, the Order can deal with it for the moment," Hermione said to him."

"No, they can't," he responded, his voice severe. He couldn't waste time explaining what he was feeling to Ron and Hermione. They wouldn't understand.

The pounding of booted footsteps against concrete tore Ron's attention away from Harry. He pulled out his wand, thinking that if the Death Eaters had already penetrated this far into the castle they were all in a lot of trouble. To his relief, it only turned out to be his father and Tonks, who looked just as relieved to see them.

"What's happening?" Ron demanded to know.

"Kingsley saw Death Eaters breaking through the protective wards outside when he was on watch," Tonks informed them.

"The Order's trying to hold them off, but it's going to be difficult to cover all the entrances into the school. They seem to be attacking from every direction," his father added.

"McGonagall's already got the other professors rounding every one up to prepare the next line of defense," Tonks explained quickly. "Take Harry and find McGonagall. She'll give you instructions – "

"I'm not a bloody babysitter," Ron scowled. "I'm an Auror, I need to be out there!"

"Aurors follow the orders they're given," Tonks said, her normal easygoing attitude replaced by her Auror conditioning. "When the Death Eaters break through our defenses outside, you'll be part of the second wave that leads the attack on them."

"Ron, good people are dying," His father said, pressing the urgency of the situation upon him. "Do what you've been told."

Tonks and his father wasted no more time arguing with him. They ran passed Ron and out of sight. He was still furious. Even after everything he had proved, they weren't letting him be a part of the front line.

"Ron, come on. We need to do as Tonks said," Hermione's voice broke through his thoughts.

He was going to tell her Tonks wouldn't know if he followed her instructions or not, when Harry gasped out loud and grabbed the sides of his head. Before he or Hermione could ask if he was all right, Harry took off at a run.

Harry ignored his friends' shouts and ran as fast as his legs would carry him in his current state. He could not ignore the vision that had just pierced through his skull moments before.

* * *

Lupin took down four consecutive Death Eaters in the span of only a few seconds, but it made little difference considering the sheer number of enemies surrounding them. The Order had never been able to get a good estimate on the number of witches and wizards that were loyal to Voldemort, but Lupin had a feeling that they numbered in the hundreds based on their initial attack. 

"Kingsley's reported they've already breached the outer perimeter around the castle," Moody's gruff voice resonated in Lupin's ear.

Lupin was uneasy. "That quickly?" Even with an on mass attack like this, he had not thought it possible for them to get through the Order's defenses so fast, even if they were spread a little then.

He and Moody had both taken nearby shelter in one of the outside walkway's students would use to get to their classes. Moody was busily using both his good eye and his revolving magical one to assess the situation in front of them.

"Dumbledore was expecting this," Moody said, drawing his wand and stunning a Death Eater that was running through the open. "Tonks is here." He saw her approach quickly from behind and dive away from a burst of wand fire.

Tonks crouched down beside them and swore. "It's bloody insane out there," she told them. "Arthur's with Charlie and Mundungus."

Lupin took down another cloaked figure attempting to enter the castle, and asked, "what about Harry?"

"He's with Ron and Hermione," she shouted, fighting to be heard over the sounds of battle. "I told them to take him to McGonagall. She'll tell them how to set-up for when the Death Eaters get inside."

"They're already inside," Moody told her.

Tonks swore again.

"And you really think that they listened to you?" Lupin resisted the urge to shake his head and chuckle despite the dire situation they were in. "They're going to want to be on the front line."

"Potter's always done whatever he's wanted. He just better know what he's getting himself into," said Moody in a rough voice.

"Hagrid could use a hand on the west side of the castle," Tonks said a moment later. "That's where the lot of them are coming from. They'll have themselves a second entrance inside if we can't push them back."

Moody nodded. "Tonks, give him a hand but tell him we're already spread too thin so not to count on any more help." While Tonks hurried off, Moody said to Lupin, "they're weakest over by the lake. If we can take them out there, we can come at them from two sides and move in towards the school."

Brandishing their wands, the two Order members began cutting a path in the direction of the lake.

* * *

Ron pursued Harry in silence, not wanting to draw any more attention than was necessary to their position. Hermione was somewhere behind him, but she had forced him to go on ahead because she was having trouble keeping up with their furious pace and knew she was only slowing Ron down. 

Ron had his wand out, having already heard the echoes of battle coming from below. As of yet, he had not spotted any of You-Know-Who's followers but he wasn't going to take the chance of being caught off guard. His Auror training wouldn't allow for that to happen.

He rounded a sharp corner, spotting Harry, who had finally stopped running. Like him, Harry had his wand out and was walking slowly, as if he were trying to hear something. Harry continued to ignore Ron's presence, even after he had come to stand beside him.

Ron had enough. He hadn't chased Harry half way around the school to be given the silent treatment. "You mind telling me what's going on?"

Harry took no notice that his friend had even spoke. Ron saw him stare straight ahead but he didn't seem to be looking at what was in front of him. That was when Ron decided to grab him by the shoulders and shake him out of whatever trance he was in.

"Leave me alone, Ron," Harry warned, shoving him away.

_At least I got his attention_, thought Ron. "You're the one that ran off," Ron argued. "Tonks wants us to – "

"It doesn't matter what Tonks wants," Harry cut in sharply.

"Would you at least tell me what's going on?" Ron tried to stall, knowing it wouldn't be long before Harry was done wasting time and took off again. He watched as Harry regarded him carefully, as if he were gauging whether or not he could be trusted. That alone told Ron something was seriously wrong.

"I had a vision," Harry started, picking up his pace. "Voldemort and Dumbledore were dueling. Dumbledore was losing – badly."

He should have known it was something like that making Harry act so irrationally. "It's obviously not true. I mean, you've seen Dumbledore fight him before – "

"This is different," Harry said, growing impatient with Ron's presence.

"It's a bloody trap, can't you see it? You-Know-Who planted that vision in your head because he knew how you would react. It's like fifth year all over again, when he planted that vision of Sirius in trouble at the Ministry." He didn't know how it was possible for Harry not to see through what was such a blatant trap. What was worse was why he hadn't used his Occlumency to fight off the vision be sent to him.

"Ron, stay out of this."

Not of his own volition, Ron found himself being forced backwards until he hit the cold stone walls.

"You can't follow me," Harry said, his tone full of regret and then he started to run again.

The grip holding him in place, disappeared a few seconds after Harry was gone. Ron couldn't believe Harry had used magic on him to keep him from following. When he started after Harry again, he didn't get more than a few steps before he collided with a solid, yet invisible force that wouldn't allow him to continue. He hadn't seen Harry cast any kind of a shield, and even if he had it shouldn't have been able to hold once he was gone.

Bewildered, he made several more attempts to get through from different spots, but whatever magic was in place continued to hold and keep Ron from following, which had been Harry's intention all along.

* * *

Harry ran. 

He didn't know how long the massive magic shield he had created would last – he hadn't known he was even capable of creating something like that until a few moments ago. He just knew Ron wouldn't accept being told to stay behind and was desperate for a way to keep him from following. He had never before created something on that scale with his powers. Using his empathy and penetrating people's minds was one thing, performing wandless magic was something else entirely. Ron would be furious without a doubt. But Harry would rather Ron hate him for the rest of his life then end up dead.

He was getting close now. The sound of wand fire blasting walls and statues into rubble told him that much. He pressed on; hearing the sinister laughter before he saw the grotesque, snake-like face it was coming from.

Even with his mental defenses wrapped around his mind like a force field to keep Voldemort out, Harry had felt his murderous thoughts lingering nearby, just out of reach. His Occlumency only barely succeeded in keeping the crippling thoughts out that had almost rendered him unconscious when he had first felt the attack on the castle.

Dumbledore and Voldemort were standing almost ten meters apart, and they both paused in their battle when they saw Harry.

Voldemort's lip curled, further stretching the scaly skin of his face, as he raised his wand. "Watch me destroy this pathetic old fool."

"No!" Harry shouted, his own wand aimed at Voldemort, who cackled loudly.

"It's all right, Harry," said Dumbledore calmly.

Despite Dumbledore's seemingly calm exterior, he looked worn and something else Harry had never seen in the Headmaster's eyes before – defeat.

Voldemort seemed to forget Dumbledore for the moment and took aim at Harry, shooting red crackling waves of magic out through his wand.

Harry yelled out, "_protego_!" His shield was just strong enough to prevent the red bolts of magic from seriously harming him, but the spell still managed to cause his shield charm to shake considerably.

A split second after he successfully blocked the vicious attack, Voldemort was already taking aim at Dumbledore using the same spell. From his knees, Harry saw him conjure up a shield charm without having to say any words. Dumbledore appeared to be successfully deflecting the curse much the same way Harry had. But Voldemort did not let up on his assault as he had done with Harry. He continued to pour more and more of his energy at Dumbledore and Harry noticed with horror the shield charm beginning to crack in spots.

Dumbledore continued to fight back, even after his shield had all but collapsed and his body was riddled with pain. Dumbledore demonstrated one last burst of significant power to send Voldemort hurtling through the air at such a speed he crashed through the stone wall and disappeared from sight.

Dumbledore's grip on his wand slackened before slipping through his fingers. The old wizard's body collapsed to the ground after it.

* * *

Ron no longer cared if anyone heard him swearing up a storm. If Voldemort didn't kill Harry, he sure as hell would. He had known Harry wanted to do whatever was possible to keep his friends out of danger, but Ron never thought he would actually go through with any of it. _Always trying to be the selfless hero_, Ron thought with some resentment. 

"Ron!" Hermione yelled running into view. Her sides ached and her lungs burned but she had finally caught up. "Why are you just standing there?" Harry wasn't anywhere in sight.

Ron tapped his wand against the magical barrier and Hermione watched as it shimmered blue at being disrupted before turning invisible again.

She moved closer towards the field, saying, "what is that?"

"_That_ is Harry." At the puzzled look she was sending him, he elaborated further. "He did that with his mind to keep me from following. I didn't even know it was there until I ran into it."

Hermione was fascinated. "That's amazing," she breathed. "I mean, Harry must be a lot more powerful then even he realizes. He was desperate for us not to follow and his mind took care of the rest."

"Yeah, it's fascinating stuff all right," Ron said sarcastically. "But I think finding Harry is our first priority."

Hermione backed away from the magical field, knowing this was not the time to get caught up in something as remarkable as this. "We'll have to go around," she said to him. "There's no telling how strong this field is or how long it will last."

As she said the last part the field shimmered blue again and developed hundreds of spider web-like cracks.

If this was indeed connected to Harry's mind as Hermione thought it was, the condition of the magical field was indicating that Harry was having difficulty keeping it up. He was in trouble.

She tugged at Ron's arm and started to run. She was sure Ron felt the same urgency that she did because he didn't question her as they ran side by side.

It wasn't long before Harry wasn't the only one in trouble. Death Eaters who had made it this deep into the castle spotted movement on one of the upper staircases. As soon as they realized it wasn't coming from one of their own, they took aim at Ron and Hermione, firing curses through the open spaces on the banister.

Ron pushed Hermione ahead, knowing that after all the grilling practices Mackenzie had put him through with moving targets, he had the much better aim.

But Death Eaters didn't play fair either, a harsh lesson Mackenzie had burned into the brain of every Auror trainee. The Death Eaters gave up on trying to hit them directly, and were now aiming at the floor beneath their feet, hoping they would fall through.

Hermione made it to the alcove on the other side safely, and Ron had just enough time to jump after her before what was left of the hanging walkway collapsed and fell hundreds of feet to the floor.

The Death Eaters continued their pursuit…


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter Thirty-Seven

There was little else Ron could do except grit his teeth and pray he could take down as many Death Eaters as possible before he got hit. He and Hermione stood back to back, stunning and hexing anything that moved. It wasn't the same as having Harry behind him, like so many of the Auror assignments they had gone on, but at least with Hermione he wouldn't have to worry about her throwing herself at a pack of Death Eaters.

The frustration was starting to set in that no matter how many of You-Know-Who's followers they killed or rendered unconscious, they didn't seem to be making any real dent. When one went down, another Death Eater would take its place and close up the gap.

They were being forced into a corner as the confidence of their enemy increased. Ron, who had never really been much of a strategic thinker, knew they needed to come up with a plan fast or they were going to be overrun.

Hermione grunted in pain behind him, but he couldn't risk turning around to see her. "Are you okay?" He shouted over his shoulder.

"I'll live. It just stung a little," she shouted back.

He had a feeling it was worse than what she was making it out to be but he couldn't afford to let his concern for her distract him.

A dark cylinder object landed on the floor a few feet in front of Ron. As soon as he heard a voice scream, "_get down_!" he didn't think twice about tackling Hermione to the ground and covering her body with his own.

The explosion rocked the area around them. They were close enough to the initial blast that Ron's ears were ringing. He was coughing at the debris that littered the air around them. He went to ask Hermione if she was all right, when the sound of wand fire broke through the ringing in his ears. He scrambled around for his wand and swore when he couldn't find it. He must have dropped it during the explosion. But Hermione still had hers and when they saw three figures coming towards them, she drew her wand.

"Oi! Is that any way to thank us for saving your life?" Fred sounded offended. George was with him while Bill hung back to check that all the Death Eaters who had been hit were really dead or unconscious and not faking.

"Saved our lives?" Ron said furious. "You nearly killed us!"

"I warned you didn't I?"

"What if I hadn't heard you?" Ron shot back.

Fred looked at George and the two of them just shrugged.

"Bloody idiots," Ron grumbled, hauling himself to his feet and pulling Hermione with him.

"That's gratitude for you," George said to his twin.

"What was that?" Hermione asked curiously.

The twins puffed with pride. "You didn't think we spent all our time making joke paraphernalia, did you?" said George. "We knew how valuable some of our inventions could be if we made them serve a defensive purpose in the war."

"We took some muggle explosives and combined them with a bit of magic to see the different results," Fred explained. "There was a memory charm in this one. When this lot wakes up – well, the ones that survived, anyways – they won't have a clue what they're doing here. And we have a bunch of others that have nasty magical side effects."

"That's actually kind of brilliant," Hermione said in admiration, causing the twins to beam further.

Brilliant? It was a bit mad if you asked Ron. He had always known Fred and George to experiment with anything they could get their hands on – and the more dangerous the better – but messing around with barmy muggle explosives? They were lucky they hadn't blown themselves up along with everyone and everything in Diagon Alley.

"I thought Dad told you to find McGonagall," Bill rounded on his youngest brother, having finished surveying the wreck around them.

"Harry wasn't too keen on that idea and took off," Ron told his brother. "We were following him until this happened."

"Hey, Bill! There's another group heading this way!" George called, looking over the banister.

"I don't understand. How did they make it in so quickly?" Hermione said.

"Dumbledore was supposed to put up extra wards around the castle but something must have happened because he never put them up. No one's seen him since the battle started. We're getting slaughtered out there," he finished grimly.

They heard a second explosion go off and knew the twins had tossed another one of their _inventions_ to the level below.

Hermione looked desperately at Bill. "We need to find, Harry."

Bill knew he would be better off getting killed in battle then facing his mother when she found out he had let his brother and Hermione chase after Harry on their own. But he also knew short of rendering them unconscious he wouldn't be able to stop them.

"Get going," Bill said after some debate. "We'll hold them off here as long as we can."

"Thanks, Bill," said Ron.

"You can thank me by coming back alive so mum can kill us together."

Bill went to join the twins and Ron and Hermione were off again.

"Harry had a vision of Dumbledore," Ron said as they hurried along. "I didn't say anything before now because we haven't exactly had a free moment."

"What happened in the vision?"

"He said Dumbledore and You-Know-Who were dueling and that Dumbledore was losing. I tried telling him it was probably a planted vision to get him to go on ahead alone. You didn't see him, but he wasn't exactly acting like himself."

"He's going to listen to reason once we find him," Hermione said stubbornly.

"Then he'll probably just end up using magic on the both of us this time," Ron said. "We'll stand a better chance of finding him if we split up."

"Oh, no you don't," Hermione said, seeing right through him. She turned sharply to face him. "You'll purposely try to lead me in the wrong direction so you can go after Harry yourself. You'll have to do a lot better than that to get rid of me."

A burst of wand fire that hit the wall nearest them, drew them away from their impending argument. It was only three Death Eaters this time, so these ones had probably slipped through Bill and the twins' defense.

"I guess we're staying together," said Ron, returning fire with his own wand before shoving Hermione around the corner out of sight. She didn't stay hidden for long. She came right back around and took out the lone Death Eater still standing.

"Don't ever push me out of the way like that again!" She fumed.

_Bloody hell. She has to pick a fight with me even now_. "Since there's probably more where those came from, I'm not going to argue with you right now."

Instead of retorting, Hermione was silent. Ron understand why a second later. He could hear Harry's voice, along with another one that didn't sound exactly human.

He and Hermione were on the move again. The fact that they were so close to Harry and were likely walking into some sort of deathly trap didn't slow them down in the slightest.

* * *

"You are so weak. To think that fool Dumbledore considered you my equal disgusts me. Then again, Dumbledore never was exceptionally bright," said Voldemort, his snake-like body towering over a battered and bruised Harry. 

Harry fought to remain sitting up. His shield charm had held for a while but it had eventually come apart much the same way Dumbledore's had. Harry squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't afford to think about the lifeless body lying mere meters away from him.

"His death was painful," Voldemort assured him, having picked up on Harry's thoughts. The link between them was much stronger now.

"It felt like the Cruciatus Curse, intensified a hundred times. But that must be difficult for you to imagine since the Crutacius doesn't affect you the same as others. _Crucio_!"

Harry was sprawled out twitching and convulsing as Voldemort put him through the Unforgivable Curse. He bit down on his lip until it bled but he wouldn't scream or cry out, and when he felt the blinding pain threatening to overtake him he would force his mind to push it back.

"Yes, it is unfortunate you are able to resist it to a certain degree," Voldemort observed, finally lifting the curse after more than five minutes had passed. "You live for pain as I do, that is why you can fight it."

"I'm nothing like you," Harry spat, forcing himself to his feet.

"Your thirst for revenge burns brighter in you than anything else," Voldemort continued. "That raw pain is what keeps you going but not even that will save you, Potter. I know about the prophecy and I know that you will be the one to die. Dumbledore merely succeeded in protecting you for a short while but even he knew this day would come. I had only hoped to have kept him alive long enough to watch his one star pupil destroy his favourite pupil."

Voldemort's skeletal arm lengthened and extended towards Harry. Harry couldn't dodge it in time and the bony fingers wrapped around his neck and squeezed.

Harry was vaguely aware of someone screaming his name but he was on the verge of blacking out and couldn't focus on anything but the scaly fingers crushing his throat.

Voldemort touched his wand to Harry's heart and viciously shouted, "_Crucio_!"

Harry's heart stopped and he lost consciousness before the pain spread through his body.

* * *

"Harry!" Hermione screamed in horror, seeing Voldemort's hand wrapped tightly around his neck. 

"Get away from him, you bastard!" Ron shouted, his wand trained on the Dark Lord.

Voldemort paid them no attention. He calmly rested the tip of his wand against Harry's chest and shouted, "_Crucio_!"

Harry didn't resist or fight back. Voldemort released his grip and Harry slipped through, hitting the cold stone floor and lying there in a deathly still heap.

Ron didn't waste time using a standard stunning spell on Voldemort. His intent was to kill. He fired his wand without mercy and if he hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes, he never would have believed that it had no affect on the dark wizard whatsoever. Voldemort seemed to absorb the wand fire like it was a snack.

"Pathetic," Voldemort said. With one movement of his hand, he snapped Ron's hand back until he heard bones breaking and Ron's wand clattered to the floor.

Ron grit his teeth to keep for yelling out. There was no way he was giving that sick bastard the pleasure of seeing him in pain. The pain was awful but at least he could still stand and fight, which was more than he could do when he had broken his leg that one time.

"Ron!" Hermione cried and started towards him.

She stopped in mid stride, having been caught in a body-binding curse that left her frozen to the spot. Voldemort had aimed the spell below at her neck, so she could still move her head.

Ron could immediately see it wasn't a normal body-binding curse. Hermione looked to be struggling to breathe. He grabbed his fallen wand and aimed it at Voldemort. "Lift the curse off her, now!" He roared.

"You still have not learned your place," said Voldemort. "You and your family are as despicable as the muggles and half breeds you love."

Ron was hurled backwards through the air and crashed through a stone pillar. He was trying to sit up, but his body refused to cooperate. His head snapped up when he heard Hermione struggling within her invisible constraints and shaking her head wildly.

Voldemort let out a shallow chuckle. "So Potter's taught you how to close your mind to me, mudblood? But this way makes it much more enjoyable to watch. I'll wake up Potter and force him to watch his friends kill each other." Voldemort raised his wand and shouted, "_Imperio_!"

"Hermione, fight it!" Ron shouted at her, but even from this distance could see her eyes glass over and her body go limp.

"Mudblood, kill Ron Weasley. And make sure it's painful," Voldemort hissed. "When you've accomplished that task I want you to kill yourself. Do you understand the instructions I've given you?"

Hermione nodded blankly, just as Ron was shouting, "no!"

Voldemort released the curse holding her in place. When she just stood there, not moving, the Dark Lord hissed, "kill him now!"

Hermione brought up her wand without hesitation aimed it at Ron.

"You have to fight it!" Ron shouted at her. "You've been working with Lupin for weeks on how to throw it off!"

He wasn't getting through to her because she kept her wand trained on him and started opening her mouth. Ron snatched his wand from the ground and dove for cover behind a nearby pillar, as the first curse directed at him left her mouth.

He could hear Voldemort's serpent laugh and Hermione's footsteps as she closed in on him a second time. This time he didn't even hear the words leave her mouth as wand fire struck the wall close to his left shoulder and then above his head, sending the top of the pillar crumbling.

Then some new sensation was added to the mix and Ron felt like the temperature in the castle had been turned up another forty degrees. He glanced over his shoulder, Hermione was still coming towards him but he was looking passed her at something else.

Harry was on his feet and there were these visible red waves coming off of him. His eyes had changed as well. They went from burning orbs of green to red.

Ron knew Hermione was getting close to him again but before he found another spot to hide, he watched as Harry, without a wand, hit Voldemort in the back with a solid burst of that red energy. Voldemort staggered forward at the unexpected attack. Harry hit him again, but this time Voldemort had been prepared and blocked it.

Ron scrambled behind the statue of a knight, feeling the end of a curse singe through the back of his shirt and leave a smoking hole. Ron didn't know how much longer he could keep this up, but he couldn't – no, wouldn't – use his wand on Hermione. He just had to find another way to get through to her.

"Harry!" He yelled, much closer to him now. He wasn't sure what he was expecting him to do but maybe there was a chance Harry could break into her mind and release the hold the Imperius Curse had on her.

Harry looked at him, but it felt more like he was staring _through _him. Warning bells went off in Ron's head and he couldn't describe it, he just _knew_ he didn't want Harry anywhere near Hermione. He got the feeling Harry was capable of just about anything at that moment.

"Their fate has already been decided," Voldemort was speaking to Harry. "They will die and you can either watch them or you can fight me and try to save the wizarding world."

Harry wasn't speaking but Ron could see he was already accepting what Voldemort had said.

"Damn it, Harry! He's messing with your head!" Ron tried to get through to him.

Seeing Harry's hesitant state, Voldemort began stalking away. "I will kill everyone here, Potter, and that will be on your conscious," Voldemort taunted. "I don't believe you're strong enough to stop me. You don't have the resolve to do what is necessary to end this."

Ron saw something visibly snap inside Harry and he knew there was nothing he could say or do to stop him. He was too far gone and wouldn't listen to reason. The only person he seemed to still listen to was Voldemort. All Ron could do was watch as he made the choice to leave his friends behind and pursue Voldemort.

Harry was gone and now Ron was left to deal with the threat that was trying to kill him. He could tell she was done playing around because now when she took aim at him, she was through using the lesser curses and had moved on to the more powerful ones.

He was running out of places to hide and didn't know what else to say to get her to snap out of the hold the Imperius had on her. Telling her to fight it hadn't worked and trying to reason with her while she was in this state would be useless. The one thing he hadn't tried which had always gotten a reaction out of her was to infuriate her.

"For someone who's supposed to be the brightest witch in Hogwarts history, you're not very bright." Another curse narrowly missed his head. _You're going to have to dig deeper_, he told himself. _Really insult her intelligence_. "Only someone who's weak-minded and stupid can't throw off the Imperius! Even I can throw it off, so what does that say about you?" He stared back at her and saw the arm holding her wand began to shake ever so slightly. "You didn't apply yourself. You didn't try hard enough," he said, throwing back at her the same scolding she had given him when they had been at school. "You made Lupin look like a fool for thinking he could teach you. He said you were the worst student he's ever had. He said he should have expected that from you since it took you two years to master the Patronus charm when Harry did it in a week." She still had her wand pointed in his direction but she hadn't thrown a single curse at him since his barrage on her intelligence began. She was fighting it, but it wasn't enough. He needed her to look at him – to really see him.

He moved into the open, making himself an easy target with nowhere left to go. Hermione clutched her wand tighter when she saw, and though her arm was still shaking, she kept it aimed at his chest. The conflict going on behind her eyes was the only indication he had that some part of her, no matter how small, recognized him.

But he had to keep pushing. He had to push her over the edge. _It's not hard_, he told himself. _You do it all the time without even trying_. "You want to know the real reason I didn't want you to become an Auror? Because you're a woman," he told her, almost flinching at his own words but it had to be done. If he was going to get through to her it would be with this. "You would never make it through the training. All you would have done was embarrass yourself," he said, walking towards her. "Besides, no one would want a stuck-up, bossy, know-it-all nagging them about every little thing they did wrong." He was almost to her now and he could see the way she was battling to keep her wand pointed at him. What he was doing was suicide, but if he didn't get through her he would probably end up dead anyways. "You should have listened to your dad. He was right when he said you didn't belong here. You're not a witch. You're just some muggleborn who goes around thinking she's better than everyone else, just like Malfoy!"

"No," she whispered in a barely audible voice. She pried her fingers off the wand and let it clatter to the ground. She started to sway on her feet, but Ron caught her before she could join the fallen wand.

"Ron?" She said, sounding like she had just woken from a dream.

"Yeah, it's me," he assured her.

She let go of him saying, "I – I don't remember what happened. Voldemort put me under the Imperius and then I – " She shook her head, hoping to clear it and that the answers would come to her. She looked at Ron's singed shirt and her eyes widened in horror. "I did that, didn't I?"

"It's no worse than some of the things I've said to you over the years," he said, trying to lighten the mood. "Did you hear me talking to you?" He said, quickly changing the subject.

"I don't know," she said, obviously still very shaken up. "It was like I was stuck in this thick fog in my own body and I couldn't get out. But there was this voice. I couldn't make out the words but it was making me angry." She gave him a panicked look. "Where's Harry? What happened to him?"

"He went with Vold – Voldemort," said Ron, saying the Dark Lord's name for the first time. "Something was wrong with him. While you were under the Imperius, he changed."

"Changed?" She said, confused.

"I don't know how to explain it. He looked more powerful than I've ever seen him." Hermione was already a wreck, so he didn't add how Harry had chosen to go after Voldemort over staying to help his friends.

"We have to go after him," she said, reaching down for her wand.

While she was distracted, Ron pointed his wand at her and said, "_stupefy_!" He caught her before she could hit the floor. He checked her vitals and everything appeared to be fine. She was just stunned unconscious. "Sorry, but you can't go after Harry," he said, scooping her up in his arms. "He'll just put you under the Imperius again or kill you."

He couldn't just leave her there in case any Death Eaters came patrolling through. He had to find somewhere to leave her. He started jogging back the way they had come from and no sooner had he started when he rounded a corner, nearly colliding with Neville and Dean. They were both soaked in blood but it didn't appear to be their blood and Ron didn't have time to ask for details.

"Is she all right?" Neville asked, sounding worried.

"She'll be fine. She's just stunned," Ron told them. "Take her some place safe and keep there."

"She's not going to like that," Dean said immediately.

"I don't care," Ron said, passing off Hermione's limp body to him and Neville. He handed Hermione's wand to Dean. "It's for her own good and if you two let her leave I'll be coming after you when this is all over," he threatened. "And no what she says don't give her back her wand."

"What are we supposed to tell her when she wakes up?" Dean questioned.

"She already knows where I'm going," Ron said to them. He took off, almost feeling bad about the task he had given Neville and Dean. Hermione was going to be furious when she woke up. Dealing with a hurt and pissed off Hermione was going to be as much fun as dealing with a room full of armed Death Eaters.

* * *

The surge of power coursing through him was unlike anything Harry had ever felt before. It was like for the first time he really felt alive. He enjoyed it because now there was nothing holding him back from fulfilling his part in the prophecy and ridding the wizarding world of the Dark Lord forever. 

Voldemort's taunts and constant ridicule only served to further the adrenaline already pumping frantically through his body. He could deflect any magical forces or spells Voldemort threw at him by simply using his mind to form a shield around himself. He learned quickly to cast the same kind of magic and tossed it back at his opponent with the same ferocity. But just as Voldemort seemed unable to hurt him, Harry seemed incapable of inflicting any damage on him either. If anything, Voldemort seemed to be growing in power.

"Your powers are impressive, Harry Potter," Voldemort observed. "I hope you appreciate what I have given you."

Harry faltered in his next attack. "Given me?" Voldemort was messing with his head again. He wasn't going to be so gullible this time.

"Do you think you would have come this far – lasted this long – at your level? I used the Cruciatus to shock your heart and you did the rest. I merely opened your eyes to the power that was already within you. The power that your weak Dumbledore didn't want you to see."

Harry took a step back. Voldemort had done this to him. Voldemort had done this and he had enjoyed every second of it.

"Your desire for revenge and your constant pain are the source of this power," Voldemort continued in the same serpent-like voice. "Dumbledore was always afraid you'd become more powerful than him. He didn't want that to happen, especially after your new abilities surfaced. Yes, Potter I've known all about them for some time. That's why Dumbledore didn't want you to use them, but when it became clear you weren't going to listen he chose to have you trained, but only to a limited degree. He wanted you to know only enough to satisfy your curiousity – that you would be satisfied enough not to pursue them further. Dumbledore made you weak," Voldemort said, stalking towards him. "He was always holding you back. He's the reason so many have died when you could have easily saved them had you been properly trained. He's the reason you weren't strong enough to save your friends and now they're dead." Voldemort was not standing only a few feet in front of him, but his wand was resting harmlessly at his side as if he knew Harry wasn't going to attack him.

"How is it that someone supposedly as wise and powerful as Dumbledore succumbed so quickly under my power?" Voldemort said, posing the question Harry had been wracking his brain for the answer to. "Because he wasn't willing to do what was necessary to achieve his goal. That was his biggest failing. Not willing to do whatever it takes achieve something. I can feel you're not like that," said Voldemort, letting his eyes fall shut. "You're as angry and disgusted by Dumbledore's teachings as I was."

Harry squeezed his own eyes shut. He couldn't let Voldemort access his feelings so easily. Voldemort was a monster and the murderer of his parents, but that truth was replaced by something even stronger. The belief that everything he was saying about Dumbledore was true. Dumbledore had forced him to live with abusive muggles for ten years, and even after he found out he was a wizard, Dumbledore continued to feed him lies and keep secrets. When he really thought about it, Dumbledore had always been holding something over him, like he had always wanted to be the one with the power. That Dumbledore had always known what he was capable of, and had wanted to limit him because he wanted to be the one in charge and never wanted to relinquish that to Harry.

"Dumbledore never gave you more because you never asked for more," Voldemort continued, seeing the break in Harry's resolve. "You still don't ask for more but I'll give it to you."

Voldemort touched his wand to Harry's chest, directly at his heart. Harry opened his eyes but he didn't flinch or move. He knew he should use this moment when Voldemort was vulnerable to attack, but the hand holding his wand hung limply at his side.

"Do you want to murder every living Death Eater?" Voldemort asked him. "They are inconsequential. They are nothing more than fanatical fools who do what I tell them and follow their faith blindly. I wouldn't stop you if that's what you wanted." Voldemort's yellow eyes lit up and his mouth stretched into a frightening smile. "But that's only a small part of what you want," he said knowingly. "You want the one who betrayed your parents. The one who let Sirius Black rot away in Azkaban for twelve years." Voldemort turned away from Harry and made a mark in the air with his wand.

The wand that had been hanging limply at his side moments ago, Harry now clenched tightly. Peter Pettigrew had appeared and was on his hands and knees, groveling in front of his master.

"M-master, you summoned me," Pettigrew said in his pathetic whiny voice. "What do you need of me?"

"Give me your wand, Wormtail," Voldemort commanded.

Pettigrew hesitated. He looked at Harry, seeing the fire burning in his eyes.

"Do you dare defy your master, you pathetic fool?" Voldemort bellowed.

Pettigrew frantically shook his head. "N-no, m-master," he stuttered. He quickly reached inside his robes and with fumbling hands held it up to Voldemort. Instead of taking it, Voldemort hit his hand with such force the wand was sent scattering across the room and Harry could hear the sounds of bones snapping.

Pettigrew moaned in pain and remained hunched over on the floor, cowering.

Voldemort stepped aside, giving Harry a clear path to Pettigrew. Without thinking, Harry raised his arm and aimed his wand at Pettigrew.

"I don't understand," Pettigrew mumbled. "Master, what's going on?"

Voldemort ignored him and looked at Harry. "I'm giving you what you want, Potter. Do you want to be responsible for letting your parents betrayer escape a second time?"

Pettigrew finally clued in on what was going on and he threw himself at Harry's mercy, something that had worked once before. "Harry, you must spare my life. I have so many stories of James and Lily I could tell you – "

"SILENCE!" Voldemort's voice boomed.

Pettigrew flinched at the anger in his master's voice and stopped talking. The only sound emanating from him was a low whimpering.

"Your hesitation is pointless," said Voldemort, growing impatient. "You're fighting what you know to be the right thing to do. _Kill him now_!" Voldemort screamed in anger, the rage in his voice causing Pettigrew to cover his ears.

Harry was torn. The reason his parents were dead was cowering right in front of him. He owed it to Sirius to kill him. His compassion for Pettigrew had cost his godfather the chance of being a free man. Sirius might still be alive if he hadn't been hiding out at Grimmauld Place as an escaped convict, looking for any excuse he could to leave the house. Lupin had suffered too. All his friends were dead and now he was alone – And it was because of Pettigrew. He didn't care that he was rationalizing the situation. Pettigrew didn't deserve to live and Harry would not make the mistake of showing him mercy again.

"Harry!"

Harry's head snapped around. For a brief second he thought his eyes were deceiving him, but they weren't. Ron was standing there, his right wrist bandaged hurriedly and hanging awkwardly at his side. He was out of breath and looked close to collapsing but he was alive.

"Ron?" Harry said in disbelief. His attention was drawn away from Pettigrew to focus on Ron.

Just as he did that, Voldemort through a curse at Ron, who only just succeeded in getting his shield charm up in time to block it.

Harry just wanted it all to be over. As soon as he knew Ron was all right, he focused on Pettigrew, who was trying very hard to disappear into the floor. He raised his wand – and then stopped. Pettigrew didn't deserve a quick and easy death. He deserved to suffer.

Ron was close enough to them he could see something happening to Pettigrew. His face turned red and then purple, like he was suffocating. He was clawing at his throat like some invisible hand was choking him. He saw the manic grin on Harry's face and he knew what was going on.

"Harry, stop it!" He thought Pettigrew was a worthless bastard that deserved to die, but Harry wasn't just killing him. He was killing him slowly – and he was enjoying it. "Have you lost your fucking mind?" Ron yelled at him. "You wouldn't do this!"

But Harry didn't stop. He didn't seem to hear Ron at all. He continued his torture of Pettigrew until Ron heard a bone snapping and knew that had to be the traitor's neck.

Before Ron could comprehend what was happening, Harry was coming towards him at an incredible speed, pinning him against the wall. Harry grabbed his throat, not enough to suffocate him, but enough to keep him from moving too much.

_With friends that keep trying to kill me, who needs enemies?_ Ron pried at Harry's hand but it wouldn't budge. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I told you not to follow me," Harry said, his voice dangerous. "I'm the one who has to fight him."

"And what a brilliant job you're doing," Ron croaked, feeling Harry's grip tighten. "For fuck's sake, Harry, you just killed a man and you enjoyed doing it!"

"I'm doing this my own way!"

"You're doing exactly what he wants! Exactly what Hermione told you wouldn't work. He's playing with you. He's using the guilt and the pain and the anger that you're feeling to manipulate you! Why can't you see that?"

"Ron, I'm warning you – "

"Go to hell," Ron spat. "You know how to end this and you're choosing not to! The Harry I know wouldn't sacrifice his friends and everything he cares about for some twisted revenge! You don't care about things like power and inflicting pain. Voldemort's like that, not you!"

Harry slugged Ron across the face and then let him drop to the floor.

Spitting out blood, Ron looked up at Harry and fixed him with a look that would have killed if he had an ounce of Harry's powers. "If you don't end this, you better hope he kills you because if he doesn't, I will. Good people are dying because you keep fucking around. Good people that are risking their lives for you because they believe you can save them." Ron let out a bitter laugh. "At least Malfoy's finally fighting for the right thing, which is more than I can say for you."

Enraged, Harry turned away. Ron had some nerve, comparing him to Malfoy. Just because Ron couldn't comprehend what he was doing, didn't mean he wasn't doing the right thing. He _was_ doing the right thing.

_But at what cost?_

_Shut up_! He screamed at his conscience.

_You'll lose everything._

_I've already lost everything._

_Not yet, you haven't_, his conscience fought back._ Your friends are still alive and you know Ginny is still alive too. You would have felt it if something had happened to her._

_Hermione's plan won't work_, Harry thought, trying to rationalize his actions._ He's too powerful._

_How do you know? You never even gave it a chance. As soon as Voldemort opened up that power within you, you've been acting like a monster. Abandoning your friends, killing without remorse, and now hurting the people who have fought by your side since the beginning. You've become everything you hated, all for a little taste of what real power is like. Ron was right. This isn't who you are at all. But there's still time for you to change._

"Enough!" Voldemort's terrifying voice boomed. "This muggle-loving, wretched excuse for a pureblood, thought he would trade in his sidekick status and play the hero. Now he's going to die for his foolishness. _Avada Kedavra_!"

There was no defense for the killing curse. No way to block it or deflect it. Even if Ron had his wand there wouldn't have been anything he could do. Harry already knew all this when he threw himself in front of the curse.

The glowing green light of the killing curse enveloped Harry's body. He screamed at the initial burst of searing pain, as the curse attacked every cell in his body. But the pain quickly dissipated and instead of devouring his body it began to ricochet back to the target that had cast the spell.

Harry could hear Voldemort's terrifying screams as his own killing curse rebounded back to him. But Harry already knew it wouldn't be enough to kill him. The curse would only transform the dark wizard to a similar weakened state he had been in when the killing curse had deflected off him as a baby.

Even though he had weeks of practice, Harry still wasn't sure he was doing it right. There was so much confusion that opening his mind and trying to channel the feelings of everyone inside and outside the castle was more difficult then any of the times he had practiced. What was even more difficult was digging beneath the surface and pulling out the strongest strands of feelings, all of which were related to love in one way or another. He directed them at Voldemort through the link they shared and the Dark Lord recoiled. Harry kept it up, not knowing how long he would need to maintain the connection for, but knowing he would have to hold it for as long as possible, even if it meant his death. Even when his scar started throbbing more painfully then ever before, he gritted his teeth and maintained the connection.

He couldn't see anything except for the yellow light pouring out from his scar. Even Voldemort's screams were starting to sound distant. Only after Harry felt his body begin to convulse and his skin felt like fire, did the beam of light shooting out from his scar stop. He forced himself to stay conscious as he watched Voldemort break up into tiny fragments that were each consumed by the golden light, as if he were being eaten alive piece by piece. Then the last fragment of Voldemort was consumed by the light and there was nothing but silence hanging in the air.

Harry's head felt heavy and his body too drained to move. The only welcoming sight in front of him was the darkness that over took him before he hit the ground…


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty-Eight

For the first time in days the hospital wing was not a maze of activity as it had been for much of the last week.

Lupin passed by Madam Pomfrey's office as he walked in, and the Hogwarts matron simply nodded at him, as she already knew who he was there to visit. In fact, he was the only patient still left in the hospital wing.

Harry was sitting up in bed, with a couple of Quidditch magazines lying facing up beside him. He didn't speak as Remus took his customary seat beside the bed.

Remus didn't let his disappointment show, but he had been foolish for getting his hopes up to begin with. Harry had been like this every time he had come to see him. Despondent and detached with a permanent scowl etched on his face. He never said much and Remus didn't try to force much out of him either. You never would have guessed they had won the war by looking at Harry. He didn't look like someone that had become the wizarding world's saviour for a second time. If anything his mood could be described as clearly depressed.

Harry was probably most affected by the end of the war. His teenage years were almost over and he had spent the bulk of them living in constant peril, not knowing if someone close to him was going to be the next victim. If anything he should have been ecstatic at the chance he could finally have a normal life. But Lupin wasn't sure if his mind had time to process that much yet.

"Molly was afraid you'd starve to death in here, so she made you a few things." Lupin held up the brown bag he'd brought in with him and gave it a small shake. "I think she's forgotten that the house elves do bring food to the hospital wing."

"I'm not hungry," Harry said, uninterested.

"I'll put it here for later," he said, putting the bag on the table at the end of the bed.

Harry just shrugged and picked up one of the magazines off his bed and began flipping through it.

"The professional Quidditch league starts next week, doesn't it?" Lupin asked him. He had never been much of a Quidditch fan, and he knew even less about the sport but from hearing the talk of everyone around the castle he assumed it had to be starting soon. He figured if anything would bring Harry out of his shell, it would be talk about Quidditch."

"I guess," Harry responded distantly.

So much for that idea. "Ron and Hermione would like to see you."

"I don't want to see anyone," Harry said, closing the magazine and tossing it down on the bed.

So far Harry had avoided having visitors for the most part. At first, Lupin had thought it was just because he was still adjusting to things, but he was growing concerned. The fact that he hadn't allowed his closest friends to visit him spoke volumes.

"You're going to have to speak to them eventually," he pressed gently.

"Yeah, eventually, but not today."

"If they were angry with you they wouldn't be asking to see you," said Lupin, trying a different tactic.

Harry was starting to lose his temper. "I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"Fine. You listen, I'll talk," Lupin said to him. "Nobody expects you to put on an act for their benefit, and neither do they expect you to deal with everything you've been through within a week."

"What do they expect then?" Harry asked. People always wanted something from him and he didn't think that was going to change over night. "I killed Voldemort. I fulfilled the prophecy and saved the wizarding world _again_. And now I just want to be left alone. Is that too much to ask?"

"No, it's not," Lupin responded. "If anything, you deserve that much, Harry. But before you start pulling away from everyone, you should at least talk to those closest to you. Unless what you've been aiming for all along is to have your friends hate you," he said, giving Harry a meaningful look that he just scowled at. "I don't really have all the details about what happened between you and Voldemort – and Ron isn't saying much – but you wouldn't be the first person to lose their head over a little magical power."

"Remus, I know you mean well but I don't want to talk about any of it. It happened and now it's over, and I don't want to go through any of it again," he said firmly.

Lupin nodded his acceptance. Forcing the issue was not going to help Harry deal with it any better. He stood up saying, "I'll come back tonight and see if you need anything."

"You don't have to check in on me. I'll be fine," Harry told him and rolled onto his side, facing the wall.

Lupin, taking that as good-bye, left the hospital wing.

* * *

"Ron, pacing isn't going to help anything," said Hermione, growing dizzy from watching him pace back and forth outside the hospital wing. 

"I don't even know why we're here," he said, stopping in front of her. "He hasn't wanted to see us before now, so why would today be any different?"

She couldn't find a fault in Ron's logic, but she wanted to believe that for some reason _today_ would be different and Harry would stop barricading himself away from everyone. Before she could tell Ron any of this, Lupin walked back out into the hall. He gave her a sympathetic smile and shook his head. That was followed up by a look from Ron that clearly said _I told you so_.

"Let's head down to lunch," Ron said.

Hermione shot him a scathing look.

"What? Just because Harry's starving himself doesn't mean we need to go on a hunger strike too," He shot back. "You coming?"

"Maybe in a little bit," she replied.

Ron gave a sort of shrug and walked away.

"Ron does have a point. Though I might have worded it a bit more tactfully," Lupin said with a smile.

She snorted. "Ron, tactful?" Those were two words that didn't go together very often. "He's angry with Harry and I wish I knew why," she said, her tone becoming much more serious. "He won't talk about what happened, even though every reporter in Britain seems to know he was there with Harry when Voldemort was destroyed." If he hadn't used a stunning spell on her she would have been there with him. She had given him hell for that afterwards and had been furious with him for days.

"Ron's very much like Harry in that respect," Lupin commented. "Except when you push him he pushes back twice as hard." Even as he said it, he was sure Hermione already knew that, given the share of rows those two got into because neither one would back down. "Minerva asked me to lend a hand in the restoration of the classrooms in the east wing. Get yourself something to eat. Maybe Harry will be feeling better tonight," he said, trying to give her some hope even thought he knew there was nothing he could say to dissuade her from marching in to the hospital wing if she chose to do so.

Hermione decided to follow Lupin's advice. Besides, there wasn't much good she could do sitting outside of the hospital wing anyways.

While she had to take a slight detour to get where she was going, because of all the repairs that were going on, it showed her how close they had all come to losing Hogwarts and the war. And also just how much it had cost them to win. Dean Thomas had been crushed underneath a collapsed wall, and Parvati's twin sister, Padma had been hit by the killing curse when she had been rescuing an injured person. Those were just a few on a very long list that went back seven years.

Even with Voldemort gone, pockets of Death Eater resistance remained, and Moody predicted it would be like that for some time. Aurors had already been dispatched to begin wiping out any and all Death Eater cells that remained. Surprisingly, the gruff Auror turned out to have a compassionate side after all. He had allowed Ron to remain behind at Hogwarts to heal and help with the restoration instead of forcing him right back out into the field. She was sure it was only a matter of time before Moody or Mackenzie asked him to come back and Ron would be only to happy to comply.

The aftermath of the destruction also had its bright spots. Most of those who weren't hurt too badly had stayed behind to help with the restoration in hopes that the school would be ready to reopen in September.

The Main Entrance had been hit the hardest and was presently closed off as Ministry assigned architects worked around the clock to restore it back to its original form. If Mr. Weasley hadn't been the Minister of Magic she doubted the Ministry would have devoted the resources it had to the renovation of the castle.

With the Main Entrance way closed off, several classrooms that had escaped the attack unscathed had been converted to temporary dining quarters. She and Ron typically ate at the one that had served as their Charms classroom, so she went there first.

Ron was there, and so were Ginny and the twins. She could tell by the flushed look on Ron's face he was trying very hard to keep his temper in check and it wasn't hard to figure out why. Fred and George were seated on either side of them, and ever since they found out about their younger brother's _celebrity status_, had taken to teasing him every waking moment they were around him. The worst prank by far was when they had found Ron's old prefect badge and transfigured it to say every thirty seconds – in what sounded almost identical to Ron's voice – _I helped take down the Dark Lord, want my autograph? _Ron had gone ballistic. It had taken both Bill and Charlie to keep him from pummeling the twins, who had enough sense to escape while Ron was incapacitated.

Obviously the twins had a death wish because they were currently badgering Ron about what dress robes he was going to wear to his Daily Prophet interview.

"I already told you yesterday I'm not doing that ruddy interview," he barked at George, while he stuffed a piece of shepherd's pie into his mouth.

"But you have to," George said to him. "What with Harry not answering any of his fan mail anymore, someone has to take up that burden."

"Sod off," Ron grumbled.

The twins gave him a nasty look, but for the moment seemed content to let their brother enjoy a few seconds of peace.

Hermione took a seat across from Ginny who was silently smirking as she listened to Fred and George's ribbing of their brother.

"So he wouldn't see you again?" Ginny stated. It wasn't a question because it was apparent from Ron's behaviour when he had arrived that Harry had still refused to see him or Hermione.

"He'll come around eventually. We all just need to give him some space. That's usually what works best when Harry gets in moods like this," Hermione said to the younger girl.

"I guess he really does enjoy being alone," Ginny said bitterly.

Hermione felt bad for her. Harry had made her swear not to tell Ginny about the part in the prophecy that was about her, and even though she desperately wanted to so Ginny would know how much Harry cared and loved her, she couldn't go back on her word.

"McGonagall seems to think the school will be ready for a September opening," Hermione said, changing topics.

Ginny had been about to respond when the sound of a fork and knife clattering against silverware drew her attention over to Ron. He was standing up now and she could swear if she looked close enough she could see steam coming out of his ears.

"Oi, little brother, it was a joke," Fred was saying.

"You've gotten so sensitive," George commented. "You would think you were a woman or something – "

"Fuck off, both of you!" Ron exploded at last and stormed out of the room without another word to anyone.

"What did you two say to him?" Hermione questioned the twins.

"We were just having a little bit of brotherly fun and Ronneikins took it the wrong way," George told her.

Hermione pursed her lips. "I highly doubt that. Ron won't have gotten so upset over nothing."

The twins exchanged incredulous looks and George said, "have you met our brother, the one who overreacts if dinner's two minutes late?"

"Well, you still shouldn't tease him all the time," Hermione scolded. "In case you've forgotten, your brother is an Auror – and a brilliant one at that. If I were you I'd be sleeping with one eye open at night. I hope you get what's coming to you," she snapped and stood up to follow after Ron.

"Isn't it scary how she can channel Ron like that?" Fred murmured to George as she was leaving.

* * *

Hermione headed back to the Gryffindor common room, as the student towers were one of only a handful of places to escape the attack untouched. Ron obviously hadn't been trying to hide because he was sitting in the middle of the common. He had just been looking to get away from his jesting brothers. 

"Fred and George were just pushing your buttons. They just can't help themselves," she said, coming to sit beside him. "I think they've been trying extra hard lately because you to seem a bit on the sensitive side," she finished carefully. She did not want him to blow up at her as well, so she was going to have to tip toe around the issue that was the root of his moody behaviour.

"You'd be too if everyone kept coming up to you and asking the same bloody questions." He wrung his hands through his hair. "I can't believe I used to give Harry a hard time about all the attention he got. I'm definitely not stupid enough to be jealous of him anymore."

It must have taken a lot for him to admit his former jealousy of Harry, but Hermione didn't say anything about it. Telling Ron he never had a reason to be jealous of Harry would never work. He'd have to come to that realization on his own.

"Moody asked me to go back to work the day after tomorrow," he told her.

Hermione blinked. "He asked you?" Moody didn't ask anybody anything. He simply told them what he wanted done and it was their funeral if they chose not to comply.

"Well, he said it in such a way so it wouldn't sound like an order," Ron explained. "I think he might be afraid my mum will come after him. This way it's my choice and Moody stays out of it." The fact that his mother could inspire such fear in a renowned Auror would have been laughable if he didn't know first hand how scary his mother could be. "But," he added a second later, "Mackenzie's putting the Aurors on rotating schedules to make sure we're all rested and nobody burns out like before. So that means in a couple of weeks I'll get a whole week off," he said, grinning at her. "And I know within the next two weeks you're not going to take on a new job, no matter how many owls or Ministry officials show up at the house."

She decided to play along. "And you know this for a fact?"

"Oh, I do," he said, leaning in closer to her. "Because I know you'd much rather spend a week alone with me then sitting at a desk pushing papers."

"You overconfident prat," she said, not able to hide her smile.

Ron smirked in triumph and leaned in a bit closer to press his lips against hers.

He pulled away all too soon and Hermione fixed him with a look. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," he said dismissively. "It's just, well, I was expecting you to come in here and make me talk about _stuff_. I haven't been the easiest bloke to get along with lately."

"You aren't usually," she responded. "But I thought I'd try something new and wait for you to bring it up."

"Really?" He said, sounding stunned. "Because normally you'd badger me to death – "

"I don't badger!" She cried, sounding offended. "If I press you about certain things it's just because I'm concerned."

He arched an eyebrow at her. "This isn't one of those reverse physiology things, is it?"

"It's called reverse psychology, Ron, and no, I'm not trying to trick you into telling me anything." _At least not on purpose_, she finished to herself. Then again, Ron had been so sweet a moment ago about the two of them spending a week together that she wasn't sure she wanted to ruin the moment.

With a sigh, Ron leaned back on the couch, looking up at the ceiling. "I haven't really said anything to you or anyone else about what happened with Voldemort because I didn't want to think about it. I mean, the bastard's finally dead, so who cares how it happened? Talking about how he tried to use the people I love to hurt me isn't going to make me feel any better."

Hermione looked away from him. The guilt she had been feeling since finding out exactly what she had done, or rather tried to do while under the Imperius, began to eat away at her again.

"Hermione, look at me," Ron said, seeing her reaction. When she wouldn't, he said, "this is why I didn't want to say anything because you would blame yourself. You were under the influence of the Imperius. You had no control over what you were doing."

"I _should_ have fought it off," she said stubbornly.

"You did throw it off," he argued. "Okay, so it took awhile but most people aren't strong enough to throw it off at all. Voldemort's a sick twisted bastard and it's not your fault what he made you do. You didn't have a choice – Harry did."

Her own guilt put on hold, she said, "what do you mean?"

"You know Harry killed Pettigrew," he started. "But I watched him do it and I've never seen Harry like that before. It was like he was possessed or something. And then he jumps in front of the killing curse without even thinking about it. I know he survived the killing curse when he was a baby, but he was willing to throw his life away just like that."

"Throw his life away? Ron you would have died!"

"I know that," he said with a sigh. "I'm grateful for what he did, but…"

"You wanted to be the one to sacrifice yourself for Harry?" She stated, narrowing her eyes at him. When he didn't answer, she said, "so you're upset you didn't die for Harry, is that it?"

"Don't tell me you never thought about sacrificing yourself for Harry," Ron stated.

"The difference is I'm not the one brooding about because I didn't get the chance!" She practically shouted, not bothering to deny it.

"It's not like I wanted to die," he said, knowing he was going to need to carefully explain himself. "I just wanted to do something important."

"You think you didn't do anything important?" Hermione said, looking at him in disbelief. She grabbed his hand and held it tightly in hers. "Ron, you were the one who got me to fight off the Imperius. Did you see how impressed Profesor McGonagall was afterwards when I told her. She said she's never heard of someone talking another person out of the Imperius Curse. The person either fights it off themselves or not at all. Still not enough for you? Look what you did for Harry. You went after him alone, not caring about the danger – not because you weren't afraid but because Harry is your best friend and you would have done anything from him. I know everyone is always pining Harry as the hero, and rightfully so, but Harry didn't have a choice. He fought because it was what he had to do. _You_ chose to fight, which makes you every bit the hero Harry is."

A hero? Ron never would have thought to associate himself with that particular word. Harry was always the one who was rescuing people and constantly putting himself in danger without any regard for his own life. And Hermione thought he was just like Harry. Maybe being like Harry wasn't so bad after all.

"Finally got through to you, have I?" She said, smiling at him.

"You know me," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I'm as thick headed as they come so it takes a while for things to sink in."

The tapping sound coming from the window caught both their attention. Ron went over and opened the glass so Hedwig could fly in. She landed on the table and Ron unwrapped the rolled up note attached to her leg.

"It's from Harry," Ron said, quickly reading through the hastily scribbled note. "He wants us to meet him down at the pitch."

"Was he released from the hospital wing?"

"Doesn't say," said Ron, scanning the note again. "It just says to meet him there now."

Just a short while ago Harry had refused to see them. Ron didn't know what had caused him to have a sudden change of heart or why he wanted to meet them outside of the school, away from everyone else, but they would find out soon enough.

He and Hermione grabbed their cloaks and left Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

Harry was already standing in the middle of the pitch waiting for them when they arrived. He was dressed in muggle clothes with his winter cloak over top. 

Hermione held herself back at first. Harry finally wanted to see them so she didn't want to overwhelm him. But her relief and joy at seeing him won out over her logical reasoning. She embraced him in a tight hug, feeling Harry go very stiff for a few seconds before he returned the hug but not nearly as fiercely. That was okay with Hermione. That in itself was a positive response.

"Your scar is fading," she said, looking at his forehead.

"Yeah, it is," he said, unconsciously reaching up to touch it. Madam Pomfrey seemed to think in another month it'll be gone altogether. My other abilities have disappeared," he informed them, which they probably already knew since he had at least told Remus that much. He knew that Ginny's connection to him was gone as well.

"We could have just come to the hospital wing," said Ron. "What's with all the secretive stuff anyways?" He hadn't needed to send Hedwig to find them. He could have gotten one of his brothers or someone else to do it.

Harry shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his robes. "I'm leaving," he stated, looking at his friends. "I don't know for how long but I didn't want everyone to make a big deal out of it, so I'm just going to take off."

"You're joking, right?" Ron said to him. "You haven't talked to us in over a week and the first thing you want to say to us is good bye?" He turned to Hermione, knowing she would support him on this but she didn't seem to be nearly as upset as he was.

"I already knew," she said to him. "Ginny told me."

"Ginny knew?" He exclaimed. Ron was confused now. As far as he could tell Harry and Ginny weren't even on speaking terms.

"I told her before the attack on the school happened," Harry said. "I wanted her to understand – " He cut himself off, saying, "it doesn't matter anymore. But that's why she was so upset when you found her leaving our dorm."

Ron looked stunned. That had been weeks ago. Only Harry would leave an important detail like that out when he had been so close to slugging him for hurting his sister. He didn't know what was more shocking – the fact he had told Ginny first or that he had obviously been planning on taking off for some time.

"Where are you going to go?" Hermione asked, hoping he would at least tell them that much.

"I'm leaving wizard world, I just don't know where I'm going yet," Harry replied truthfully.

"I'm sorry but I'm the only person here who hasn't had weeks to get used to the idea of you leaving," Ron said angrily. "I get what you've been through, Harry. But I don't understand how you think running away from everything is going to make things better."

"Ron, this is what I need to do," Harry spoke, his voice neither angry nor raised. "Voldemort is gone and I need figure out where I fit in. It might sound stupid but that's how I feel. And after how I handled things with Voldemort, I know I don't want that to ever happen to me again. I don't want to choose power over the things that really matter to me."

Ron took everything he had been saying in, but that didn't change how he felt. He kept his arms folded across his chest and his stance rigid.

He had been expecting Ron's reaction, but even knowing that Harry couldn't alter his decision, even if it meant his best friend hating him for a while. Hermione was already silently crying, so he tried not to look at her for too long for fear he might start falling apart as well.

"I'll write once I get settled somewhere," he promised them.

Hermione couldn't restrain herself any longer. She threw her arms around Harry, crying openly now. Harry looked over her at Ron, not wanting to leave on bad terms. Ron stared back at him for a long moment before he finally broke out of his angry state and mouthed the word 'mental' to him. Harry chuckled, causing Hermione to pull away from him.

"I think it's wonderful how you both can put aside your differences to laugh at me in a right emotional state," she said, pretending to sound offended.

Ron tugged at her hand and pulled her back a bit. "Give the bloke some air, unless you're looking to send him back to the hospital wing."

Before things could get far too emotional and awkward, Harry pulled out a couple of folded pieces of parchment from inside his robes. "Give this to Remus for me," he said, handing the first addressed letter to Ron. "And to Ginny," he said handing Ron the other one as well.

As he handed over the one addressed to Ginny, Harry realized he probably should have put an unbreakable charm on it to keep her from ripping it to pieces, but it was too late for that now. Ginny would have to decide for herself if she wanted to read it or not.

He reached inside his robes and pulled out one last folded letter addressed to the two people in front of him. "I'm not really good with feelings and stuff like that," he began. "So instead of standing here sounding like a blubbering idiot, I wrote it all down. I mean it probably still sounds horrible but I needed to say some things," he finished, handing the last letter over to Ron and Harry was grateful he didn't start reading it right then and there. Even if he had been an expert writer, words still wouldn't have been enough to express what their friendship and everything they had done really meant to him. Despite everyone who had died along the way, he knew that if something had happened to either one of them he wouldn't have wanted to go on living. Sirius's death had hit him hardest by far, but living without one or both of his best friends was not something he would be strong enough to bear.

When Hermione hugged him again, she didn't say anything this time. After a bit of awkwardness and some prodding from Hermione, he and Ron exchanged a quick embrace.

As Harry walked away from his friends, the one word that was never uttered was good-bye, because that would have made his departure seem permanent. He would never abandon the place that had become his home and the people in it that had become the family he had always wanted but never thought he would have.

It might take some time, but Harry would be back. He knew that without a doubt.

The End


End file.
